Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
Can't you swim?
Netanya asked

no I sink like a stone
I said

my son could teach you how  

I’m ok not swimming

she sighed
what if you drown?

I get wet

I'm serious
my son could help

I looked out at the sea
looks rough
I said

it's ok  
Adam will show you
she said

ok but if I drown
I’m coming back
to haunt
the *******

he's my son
she said frowning

like I said
I’ll haunt him

so half hour later
her son took me
to the beach
and he said
see that sea breaker?

yes I see it

well climb on top
and dive in
he said

dive in?

yes the best way
to learn
swimming is 90% instinct
you go in
you'll swim to survive

ok
I said
and climbed on top
and dived in

SPLASH
I raised a hand
through the water's skin
and waved
and took in
a mouthful
of salt water

and my life flashed
before my watery eyes

the son pulled me up
and along
through the water
and sat me
on the beach

you ok?

he said

no instinct
I said
except to drown

he smiled
seems so
but I saved you
he said

thanks
I said

his mother was in the sea
a little way off
her green bikini
clutching her body
like a fond lover
the waves licking
her lovely thighs

I smiled
and wiped water
from my hazel eyes.
A MAN TRIES TO LEARN TO SWIM IN 1976.
Is that it? Samsonite...No, mine's a no-name.

I thought red would do - red unique.
But, my, so many reds on this belt.

The wait, for prized possessions
checked in - clothes for the trip, and razors!

Thought much of myself when
I ran ahead at Immigration, but
the posh lady I raced, walks off now -
she's found her red.

The belt's stopped now. We are all packed.
Hope's never lost if not found yet!

FILO says my neighbour-in-line: First in, Last Out,
kind enough to explain. Well shouldn't it be
LIFO? I wondered, the late loafer that I am.

Yawns - shorter to fly, longer at the belt!

Red, red, everywhere...now
an American Tourister, snooty.

But mine's a no-name
ribbed red, economy class beauty:

and am waiting...
The frills of economy class travel...!
he read
somewhere
her name
means warrior

tough
indeed
fierce
in fact

five feet
"tall"
protesting
a picket line
because she hates the hate

they love so much
stronger than him
she never lets him feel that

she knows
he doubts himself
she tries to doubt
herself
but can't
really
she is too busy
trying to make the world

alright
he too is busy
making it all wrong
but she never loses

touch her
savant memory
hearing her living
in the echoes

her laughter
medicine
for the deepest
wound

she falls around sunset
to rest in
dreams
of the next battle
When I was in 4th grade a girl named Claire
Kicked my ***
And left me on the blacktop
I swore it would never happen again

When I was 17 a girl named Ashley
Kicked my ***
And left my heart in pieces
I swore to never trust love again

I just turned 23 and a girl I shouldn’t name
Kicked my ***
I wanted to give her everything
For the very first time

But I never got off the blacktop
My heart is still in pieces
Love is still untrustworthy
I need to learn to fight.
We accept the love we think we deserve.
I don't accept much.
 Apr 2013 Kelley Kathleen
Ugo
Poison spoon fed the nodding King and ended ancestors.

Holy cows bought government *****
and ate suicides grown by ***** Kubla Khan gospels.

Shantih, Leviticus, and other proper thoughts
kissed arms of air and made islands from memories of breakfast.

Eternity perished in the illusion of swallowed tongues
in the belly of an infant—
and yesterday,

Only one bullet of hallelujah stood swimming.
"It’s a war going on outside we ain’t safe from
I feel the pain in my city wherever I go
314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago"--Kanye West "****** to Excellence"
After the bath the drying of,
the white towel under the
arms, over arms and *******,
between thighs, all over until

all dries or near so, and while
drying, she thinks of the long
afternoon spent, the meal, art
gallery and back to the hotel

for *** and talk and *** again.
She smiles, drying along her thigh,
here where he put his lips, kiss
planting, lips damp and wet, his

tongue lick lick, she laughs softly,
dries her buttocks, rubs and rubs,
and him reciting some short *****
poem, tapping his fingers along her

spine. She pauses the drying of, sits
and recalls the kisses set, the places
laid, the excitement caused and
raised and she in giggles near to

wetting and he laughing. After
the bathing, the rumination and
towelling all over, skin rubbed,
bath oils, powder, remembering

embraces, touching in places (what
would Mother have said?), and
he running finger along her nerves
and setting her juices to flow, then

have to leave, said he, have to go,
then gone, bed empty, space vacated,
scent left, odours lingering, still on
fire, unsatisfied desire. She sits and

puts down the towel, takes cigarette,
lights, inhales and thinks on and when
next and where, and if in truth, he’ll
come and (God be praised) ever be there.
Next page