Richard Dana
Born in Orange, New Jersey, United States
Lives in Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Lean, 2011
Leaning Into One Another
Connie Terry
Arts for the Aging
Michael and Mark were four years apart,
aged 8 and 12. In the ’70s
everybody had a pool it seemed
of one sort or another
and we joined each summer
the neighborhood pool in the middle
of our colonial subdivision.
I would sit and watch,
to look out for them
as all the mothers did
in the bright hard sunlight.
They liked to jump in the water.
I would get sunburned all the time
with my fair skin I tried to cover up.
I wanted to lean into something,
the memory I can't bring up,
like pages in a forgotten book:
how I protected them.
The older was a redhead like me.
He’d later turn to drugs.
The younger was blond,
studious, more serious, easier
to love. As an adult,
he took his own life.
But there was a time
I could still watch them,
I could protect them completely.
We were leaning into one another.
We were leaning into our lives.
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