How to Drown

Step one is to think statistically 
To believe that you are different and unable 
Boy, 
You are not superhuman
You are neither Jesus nor Michael Phelps, so don’t you dare swim 
More than fifteen meters in
I’m telling you the first lesson you learn today is that you are not exceptional 

Step two is to underestimate the loneliness of the tide 
You can count on the pull of the ocean to be the hug that never lets you down
For all salt in the sea
I can see why it would want you and I am telling you 
This is a bad time to play in water because the whirlpools in the Mediterranean 
Are thirsty and hungry
And always lonely

Step three is to believe yourself a victim
I don’t want you insinuating crime
I’m not saying you asked for it
But I’m not making excuse for the sea
But that’s only because you can’t blame the sea
In Arabic, my father told me about how
The sea is the sea and there is nothing to be done about it
In this game of low tides that swallow up and spit out without discretion 
There is no discrimination 
And it’s a damn shame that the purest form of equality you’ll ever come to experience 
should be your last
But boy,
Out of all the lessons that you will learn
You should learn that you are not made to last

This poem is about: 
My family
My community
My country
Our world

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