Caitlin O’Halloran

None of us had even noticed
that she was drowning,
spiraling down to the bottom
of the hotel pool.

Our teacher dove into the water,
still fully clothed.
She slung our classmate
over her shoulder
and swam to the ladder.

And the boys all laughed
when she emerged,
carrying our classmate in her arms,
whispering to each other
that they could see her nipples
through her white T-shirt.

Caitlin O’Halloran is a biracial Filipino-American writer living in Rochester, New York. Her poetry has been published in literary magazines, including Lost Balloon, The Metaworker, Urban Pigs Press, confetti, and The Prose Poem. Her fiction has been published in Twin Bird Review. www.caitlinohalloran.com