The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: She Has Dreamt Again of Water by Stephanie Niu

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Diver Walks into the Sea and Stays

ZONE I: INTERTIDAL

Before I go, I learn to clear my ears.
Remove water from my mask while under,
control my breath until my lungs
become a kind of swim bladder. Even then—
I am unwieldy. Unnatural. I am clunky
machinery strapped to a barrel of air and plastic
finned feet. I am a lemming stepping
into nothing. I walk the plank freely.
Once under, I can breathe. Here,
everything is slowed, a miracle, even
wisps of ink suspended. Everything is worthy
of devotion. I see how quietly
the world goes about its business
without me. The purple stars, the glow
of shark embryos resting
on the kelp forest floor. I want
something impossible: to hear
a secret no human has been told.

ZONE II: PELAGIC

Let me introduce you: here is the music
of a moving eel. Many strange teeth. Ink
suspended in the sea. Everywhere, green—
the color of permission. We swim sinless,
arms and hearts indistinguishable.
We cannot see or even imagine
the bottom from this distance.

ZONE III: BENTHIC

I lack jaws.       I lure
        with light.
My clear   face
        is one big eye.
In heavy cold,
my shape is
wise.               I need
nothing. I survive.

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