Response to "400-meter Freestyle" Maxine Kumin

The first thing I noticed when reading this piece was the format of the words, and how it reflected the laps that add up to 400 meters.  I think this format added a lot to the poem by making the reader go through what the swimmer is going through.  The description also mirrors the passage of time through the race: it starts with the dive into the pool, and ends with the finishing time.  The description of the trained efficiency of the swimmer in the phrase "he has schooled out all extravagance" was very relatable to me as a swimmer.  It was an excellent way to convey the almost robotic nature of this sport.  A lot of sports have an artistic element to them, but speed swimming is all about the time and how you can cut it down.  Towards the end of the piece, Kumin also accurately describes the way in which the body is trained to accept oxygen deprivation (something that should be so unacceptable to it), when describing the legs and lungs.  By dividing the swimmers body up into parts throughout the piece: hands, wrists, heels, mouth, soles of feet, arms, lungs, heart, Kumin makes the swimmer even more like a machine.  And although, the swimmer's body is turned into a means to an end (a race time), the description and the style also make me really feel the experience of swimming the race.