SWWIM sustains and celebrates women poets by connecting creatives across generations and by curating a living archive of contemporary poetry, while solidifying Miami as a nexus for the literary arts.

The Self Slipping Free

SWWIM Every Day
by Sally Bliumis-Dunn

The oak’s long shadow

with its tips of jagged branches

is clawing the quiet grass

as it moves through the yard

reaches the fieldstone wall

and climbs the fat-bellied boulders

as though it could escape

unravel itself

from the tree

journey off on its own

grow fur and skin around a new

beating heart.

Sally Bliumis-Dunn teaches at The 92nd Street Y and is Associate Editor-at-Large for Plume Poetry. Her poems appeared in Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, PLUME, Poetry London, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, and others.

Going Under