Plastic Swimming Caps
Candice Louisa Daquin
Perhaps she was an acrobat not chicken skin diving
past the taunts the laughs who cares if British Home Stores
makes the worst swimming costumes because when you
reach the highest plank and feel the wobble against your human hands
jumping is that fuck you to everyone catapulting through
what's possible in the air a flame, a dragon, a fantasy
out of here, out of the smell of chlorine the shriek of boys pushing girls
pushing boundaries plugging up holes with tampons and tea bags
what's it all about when your horse is waiting outside and you can run
so fast lungs burning smelling piss in the grass and the dank skies over head
council estates like vultures looming you'll end up in one
with a cat and a tin of spam on three legs and drunk in
that cage rattling until the rabbit is freed he runs ahead of every
greyhound who isn't fed enough to really give a shit
diving as elegantly as stars falling through high clouds
for that second you're a mermaid surrounded in silver
drowning out curses and cruelty, seeing only splendor
dreams as bright and lovely as the feeling of warm clothes
on a hot day, steam rising from the school radiator we'd sit
banging our calves on the metal pushing each other noticing
peeling paint, wax on the wood, splinters of time
thinking about it thirty years later, still diving
far far into space
past the taunts the laughs who cares if British Home Stores
makes the worst swimming costumes because when you
reach the highest plank and feel the wobble against your human hands
jumping is that fuck you to everyone catapulting through
what's possible in the air a flame, a dragon, a fantasy
out of here, out of the smell of chlorine the shriek of boys pushing girls
pushing boundaries plugging up holes with tampons and tea bags
what's it all about when your horse is waiting outside and you can run
so fast lungs burning smelling piss in the grass and the dank skies over head
council estates like vultures looming you'll end up in one
with a cat and a tin of spam on three legs and drunk in
that cage rattling until the rabbit is freed he runs ahead of every
greyhound who isn't fed enough to really give a shit
diving as elegantly as stars falling through high clouds
for that second you're a mermaid surrounded in silver
drowning out curses and cruelty, seeing only splendor
dreams as bright and lovely as the feeling of warm clothes
on a hot day, steam rising from the school radiator we'd sit
banging our calves on the metal pushing each other noticing
peeling paint, wax on the wood, splinters of time
thinking about it thirty years later, still diving
far far into space
About the author
Candice Louisa Daquin was born in Europe and now makes her home in the American Southwest. The combination of her mixed cultural and social experiences, including her Sephardic heritage, influence much of her work. She is currently working on her next collection of poetry.