Centre by Sarah Klassen For everyone The swimmer’s moment at the whirlpool comes, But many at that moment will not say “This is the whirlpool then” (Margaret Avison, “The Swimmer’s Moment”) Time, endlessly circling, spins off long geologic ages, historic epochs, a lifetime or just one day, one single moment in which the wirling world could come undone. a business venture fails, friendships unravel, rain spoils the weekend at the beach. Surprise and disappointment come for everyone. Centripetal force impels a thing toward a centre. An eddy draws a brown oak leaf nto its tiny vortex. Satellites in endless circuit are pulled by gravity toward planet earth. When a gust of wind becomes a gale the water’s surface turns from mirror-smooth to storm and churning turbulence just when, for some, the swimmer’s moment at the whirlpool comes. Who hasn’t been astonished by an artist’s mastery of colour, texture, form? Think swirls of blue, green, yellow. Think van Gogh’s Starry Night. Who hasn’t gazed in wonder at that haloed moon set in a cobalt sky. Those undulating hills, the milky way, dark cedars, spiralling stars. All the beauty of the universe in glorious grandeur displayed. At that moment some will say beauty is all there is. Truth is, The Scream, through line and colour, tells a different story. Did Edvard Munch think this one painting’s horror could contain the whole of what there is? Is there not at the centre of the hurricane: a steady, quiet eye? In Galilee when Jesus walked on water, Peter, quite unravelled, leapt in. A swimmer who’s tested the current’s force and understands the chances, can say, undismayed: This is the whirlpool then.
Sarah Klassen is a Winnipeg poet and fiction writer. Recent poetry publications are The Tree of Life (Turnstone Press) and New and Selected Poems (CMU Press). Awards include National Magazine Awards gold and silver and the Gerald Lampert Award. KLassen’s poems explore both the physical and spiritual aspects of life.
