Shona Kerr-Hill
Swimming Pool
Flabby thighs slap down on the wet slabs,
feet flap on the flat tiles,
squelchy steps of clammy skin on ceramic.
Screams echo, raucous as gulls
screeching against vast concrete.
Underwater, mumbles drone like a slowed down record.
Limbs push the surface, floundering in splashes.
Bodies swim, squirming in gaps -
or lock together in the midst of the geometric blueness.
Submerged swimmers ripple forward while on the edges
belly-floppers prepare their flat contact with the water.
Some test the temperature tentatively
with toes out-stretched -
while adventurous plungers dive in - regardless.
Soon a shrill whistle cuts through the din
with razor sharpness.
The bodies crawl out, clambering the edges
on all sides like rats leaving the carcass of some animal.
They tip-toe to the changing rooms,
fingers wrinkled and tongues tasting of chlorine,
to rub themselves dry with vigour,
arms heavy with watery effort.
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Page(s) 13
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