A Poem by Peter Vertacnik

The Diver

At the hospital,
a hollow, pressurized
hiss, as from
a diver’s mask,
marks his breath:
brief buoyancy, long
depth. Our task
is to watch
as he floats
too still, though
no one dares
to say it’s
the last time
we’ll see him
alive. No one
speaks. The diver
continues to dive.

Peter Vertacnik's work appears in 32 Poems, The Cortland Review, Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, The Hopkins Review, Phoebe, and Literary Matters, among others. His debut collection of poetry, The Nature of Things Fragile, won the 2023 New Criterion Poetry Prize and will be published by Criterion Books in early 2024. He currently lives and works in Jacksonville, Florida.