I wanted a shirtless lifeguard

at the waterpark to see me, so I leapt

from the flotilla of plastic innertubes

into the waist-deep canal, where spotlit

mummies craned animatronic                                                                                   necks.

He came. He rustled, furious,

from a plastic hedge and banned

me from the Lost River of the

Pharaohs for life.

-Hannah Faith Notess