The swimming pool, a poem by Svetina Shi

 The swimming pool

By: Svetina S.

i let myself 

descend down the stairs

            into the water

        warm as flesh.

 the water rushes forward

enveloping me like silk

swallowing             me         whole

letting             me float

here i feel free.

i breathe in the air, tinged with chlorine, damp, humid. moisture beads on my face. 

and i sink

—-------------------------------------------under---------------------------------------------

the water

i hear the buzz of the radiator, muted underwater, the splash of the water on the sides of the pool. but mostly i hear nothing. silence, for once. my hair fans out, dancing in the waves, zero gravity.

when i finally get out, my fingers are pruned.

Time to return to the real world.