Cornsilk frames her skin
young wheat at mid-day
luminous as Nebraska plain

her eyes surprise you
pulling you into
the aquamarine

Lake McConaughy
a jewel locked in grain
locked in blue

you don't see through
the trophies and ribbons
her head swimming

in Latin conjugations
AP, IB, GPA, SAT
it takes all her strength to

drift down the yellow raft
her floating land
to see the tassels shining

her Antonia digging,
free, into the earth
she slips into the blue

trying not to swim