A Poem by Christina M. Rau Off The Bridge In that four seconds I knew I had made a mistake. Toes pointed towards the churning surface, Ire-filled white crashes and swirls speeding closer, Chin tucked to my chest and eyes locked on that water, I prayed to God. Then, after the splash, roar, silence, Tumult of whichendisup, Under the current, under my feet I felt What wasn't water, what wasn't weed. I thought, I survived that fall Please God please I don't want to die by shark But it wasn't a shark It was a sea lion Who carried me safely home.
	Christina M. Rau is the founder of Poets In Nassau, a reading circuit on Long Island, New York. She has published her poetry in several magazines over the past few years, including New Graffiti, Chronogram, and The Tipton Poetry Journal.  To pay the bills, she teaches college English, and sometimes manners.
		Summer 2006 Issue