Editor's Note: Congratulations to R William Parmenter for winning this month's competition. The theme for June was "out-of-body" and this piece captures the experience of floating, as vapor, in a simplistic and beautiful way before being pulled back to reality by a loved one.
... Have you ever had a moment That should have been so scary And yet— There was the fire of the rocks The jagged haze of pain before The splash The sea welcomed me and I Looked at myself as someone else So free My lungs exploded in a seawater chorus Bound for the bottom, ever-dark ...