It’s been nine months since I jumped into a swimming pool in California and couldn’t see my hand in front of my face underwater. When I emerged, I attributed the cloudy blur in the center of both eyes to the temporary effects of chlorine. But it didn’t go away; it got worse.

On Sunday I left the quiet, rural magic of Taleamor Park outside my home town of La Porte, Indiana, where I spent the past three weeks in an artist residency working on a new writing project set in La Porte.

This is what it took…