Appreciate the moment.
[No. 60]
CAN DOGS HOLD THEIR BREATH UNDERWATER?
A guest post by poet & MBA editor Verônika Shülman
“Tears are so soft
When you dive in them”
Christine & the Queens
Verônika & her papa by the water
Okay, I looked it up.
According to the internet, “Most dogs can hold their breath underwater for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. However, some breeds are better adapted for swimming and can stay underwater for longer periods. For example, Labrador Retrievers and Portuguese Water Dogs are known for their swimming abilities and can hold their breath for up to 3.”
The first thought I had was, [I bet I’d be one of the ones that could hold it for 3 minutes]. I am used to walking quietly out of precarious situations, tip-toeing so that no one knows I am gone or was even there. There is an aspect of my young life that I must examine. The truth, to paraphrase the artist Monique Mitchell, is that just because I have a high pain threshold does not mean that I should assume the position of heartache. I have been learning to let it go and you, Aliens, have been a big part of my education whether you know it or not!
In college, as I write about in my book, I began to study the filmmaker Chantal Akerman, only to learn that my genius professor, Margaret Carroll, was her lover. Chantal’s films are slowwwwwww. Girls peeling potatoes for ten minutes. That kind of thing. But after a while you fall into it and forget that the outside world exists. You learn to appreciate the natural, ephemeral moment. To understand the holy mathematics that nothing lasts forever, not even something great. That every moment is its own kind of wedding. Is it not miraculous that dogs can swim at all? It is not about the number of minutes, but about their fur, wet like sea moss. It’s about their breath, like drums. It’s about the breath of the humans nearby. It’s about the house in which they live, that they tend to, one new porch or attic added with each Christmas bonus. It’s about the cheeseburgers they tenderly grill and eat, and the fresh clean water they drink with dinner. From the sky. Traveling drop by drop through a mountain spring into your small, clear handmade glass. The wonder that stars smashed into each other once a long time ago, and here we are, so lucky and dumb and rich with ideas and breath and wishes and water. Water. It’s about the water.
[Check out David Foster Wallace’s compelling commencement speech about water here.]