underwater_water_bubble_sea_blue-52348

Wetsuit

this wetsuit

is tight,

too tight

right up to

my neck

i am zipped up

with pain

hot and rubber

and stuck

against this

heavy tide

i am on

my knees

still in the

shallows

panting,

the layer

between you

and me

trapped now

by such a

small distance

of warmth

my arms

imagine

huge clocks

swimming

backwards

with each stroke

to before

you existed

deeper

i am holding

my head

just above

salt water

i’ve never

had a

lesson

there is

nothing

to hold that

will keep me

safe

harbour wall

stands high

and narrow

blind to

the fight of

water and blood

beating

i keep

telling myself

 

you were

made

for this

for this

for this

 

 

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Olga is originally from Northern Ireland and lives in England. A former Warwick Poet Laureate, she has had poetry and flash fiction published in a range of magazines including Rattle Magazine, Magma, Paper Swans Press, Reflex Fiction, Dodging the Rain, Fictive Dream and The Fiction Pool. In 2017, she was commended in the Winchester Poetry Prize and was recently commended in the British Army’s Writing Armistice Competition. @olgadermott