Did you bury her yet?

Listen, kid: are you, or are you not,

The boy in the poem?

He knows I’m here; he knows

What I sound like, he knows

I can swim.  He knows,

He knows—

Did you, or did you not, hide

The body?  Did you, or did you not,

Keep digging—

All night—

I kept digging.  The sun rose,

And I kept digging, lungs

Burning.  Listen, kid:

Broken ribs aren’t worth it,

Kid: bandages aren’t for this kind of wound,

Kid: you’re twenty-four years old.

Get over it.  You swim or you drown,

Kid.  She swims and you drown.