Size / / /

On breathing water: first, relax—

accept that what is now

and what will come

are different.

Eyes closed, allow the water

to envelop your face. A liminal kiss

is a prayer and a promise.

Do not force.

Contract your stomach; hold tension:

the act of moving without motion.

Focus on the effort wasted

that makes you stronger.

Perspective.

Squeeze gently inwards, allowing fear

to leak away (in your breath, in your sweat). It

is becoming you. You

becoming it.

Inversion.

On leaving air: relax—

let nature follow flow, water

filling lungs.

This moment of transition

the gods adore, and now

is when the nanites set:

bubbles mark your last breath

of air.


Kaolin Fire is a conglomeration of ideas, side projects, and experiments. Web development is his primary occupation, but he also programs open source games, edits Greatest Uncommon Denominator Magazine, and occasionally teaches computer science. He has had short fiction published in Tuesday Shorts, Opium Magazine, Escape Velocity, and Alienskin Magazine, among others. For more information please vist Kaolin's web site: http://www.erif.org/.



Kaolin Fire is a conglomeration of ideas, side projects, and experiments. Web development is his primary occupation, but he also programs open source games, edits Greatest Uncommon Denominator Magazine, and occasionally teaches computer science. He has had short fiction published in Tuesday Shorts, Opium Magazine, Escape Velocity, and Alienskin Magazine, among others.
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4 Nov 2024

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