The smell of that stuff
they use to wash the water clean
it gets up your nose
when tired from swimming
Me and my friend
he teaches me all these things
Like how to keep a secret
airtight
It’s a drink inside a flask
you don’t tell, even if they ask
and I never said no
but I never said yes
Why does everything here
smell clean
but me…
Busy bare ankles glimpsed
In the gap below the cubicle door
I never thought I wasn’t ready
I’d never thought about it before
Only how many lengths I could swim
another one, another one, before back to him
It’s a silence I struggle to keep
but who would want to listen
Why does everything here
smell clean
but me…
Three decades on
so much distance in my heart
and all those failed moments gone by
all those loves that fall apart
I’m still free when I swim
I rarely think of it now
he was no friend to me
Finally, I learned what it was
I learned it had a name
Chlorine…
[2021]
Thanks for reading this rather bleak poem.
I felt like a bit of an imposter writing this one, as I have no experience of the subject matter. But I thought perhaps it might speak to others.
The Lighthouse 