summer swimming by Krista Kulisch

summer swimming

velvet wafts of stale air

chewed gum melted into sinking

pools for unsuspecting strays

who don’t watch the hands

of the clock tick tick ticking

drops from the small pointed

number three erasing the weave of

the vacuumed rug crunch

of tires rolling over gum

hot breath claws its

way to the surface of a tight

throat

they say you cannot trust

the memories of children

molded clay of context

charades and hide and

seek monsters pulling you by your

kneecaps to the darkness between

the bed and the wall scratched

with hash marks to count

down keep track

ignore and remember

smeared windowed stories

sticky splayed hands hold

evidence in dismembered increments

between hips

pelvis

wings

call it growing pains

you cannot trust

the memories of children

when you don't know

where you buried them

diving into a blanket

of heat and bodies seared

with invisible ink i

float into the deep

end sit criss cross

applesauce

claim fistfuls of water

fumble and

shovel

wrists under

my knees an anchor

watch the screams bubble

to the surface

with alarming

calm