Swimming in the Dark

The flock flew up - We saw them then:

Thousand stars every direction.
We were below - Out in the dark.
Ancient rises beyond the beach
Appeared to move in time with each [wave].

Even at distance they were cold.

Bright lights swam up from the seabed 
And we both were carried away.
This quiet - Beneath endless sky.
We floated there

And talked.

twenty-one new years resolutions

I will plan to be better in the future tense

As of midnight all self-improvements recommence

I would step over buildings without breaking stride
Be yogafied daily till it engenders pride

Run in the rain, up hills and along the beaches 
Sing loudly just to see where to my voice reaches

Give up coffee again and leave my comfort zone

Stop spending half the day just staring at my phone

Disentangle the nervousness within my dog

And learn to live with my internal monologue

Give loads to charity without telling a soul

Stand up to butter: exercise self-control

Go rock climbing and swimming till my toes give out

Hit the brakes: do a U-turn on the road to gout

Read more and go out more and learn an instrument

See the ordinary can be magnificent

Learn to keep schtum while also having my say

Ease off and

take each day

as just 

another

day

5-minute Poem: Schlachtensee

Schlachtensee

shh-lack-ten-zee/sch-lach-ten-see/ˈʃˈlækˈtɛnˈziː

there were peaceful moments there when you felt the whole city had melted away - sun shining constant - and the trip had made it all the better - travelling by train makes the pace rattle and soothe -
"your head has time to adjust to the new location"
- and this, a place only a few miles outside of the capital city of one of the industrial powerhouses of the world, whether or not the industry is decayed block techno squats
- and this a place where the midges stand in a halo, the nonstop sun is reflected and refracted through pines and that water
- you sink into sediment -
space is granted to you alone, even as you pass other bathers,
even as you know you'll return to the sausage and chips/the bar benches and beer
even though the train station waits at the end of the swim-reading-nude day
ach du scheiße: Guernsey discovers nudism in Germany
- on this point a moment, forgive me: a statuesque woman, who looks like she's hiked halfway across the country, small dog in tow, stops just short of the path and strips off completely before plunging into the cold water - is this why I remember Schlachtensee?

Drowning in Mango - Part One

drowning in mango, I came up for one last gulp of sticky air

the world turned dark orange after that

the last thing I saw before my eyes stuck together finally: an enormous brown and yellow snake swimming towards me with great muscular movements

now blind, I felt myself being transported at great speed, but like a drunk on a train, half-asleep and conscious only of how sick all this movement was making me

I passed out, probably because my lungs were filling with mango juice

when I woke up, I was on the shore of a small stream

there wasn't a mango in sight

Read Part Two

132

I pulled a muscle last night
swimming vigorously
after a day sat and a long walk
the seaweed swamped me
and these murky waters stung in my eyes
you dive down and find freezing zones
where crabs are scared to move
where the pier can be peered at
sunken and waving
the markers that sit up above the waves
rock with every slop of
the atlantic rolling onto our shores
you come up with tentacles round your face