FLORA RUGMAN
Commended - 2019 Tower Poetry Competition, 'Underwater'
on agnes swimming
sitting at the side of the pool
water lapping my legs i
trace letters on the inside
of my teeth and the chlorine
stings my eyes; i lean over to agnes, tell her
that i have seen girls with
arms twice as curved, cello
string taut and bowing as
hers drown in this
very pool, hips
swollen with foam and hair like
sweated silk -
her mouth splits open like a
pomegranate spilling out
red seeds and
she pushes off like i never
said a word. slips
underwater,
damp skin shining like
milk glass, opalescent
in a square of bright white.
i always thought swimming
was a folding in -
a sharp
collapse of hinges -
but she
folds herself out until
she is as open as an
eyelid, glistening and
repulsive and so
alive i want to scream.
the water traces her
softly - every movement
threaded with light. i burn with
her grace.