Paddling
Laura Cooney
lungs empty,
christ it’s hot.
the eyes swim in a sea of yellow
and light pinpricks
and you think of
one hundred acceptable
and efficient ways to kill yourself.
breathe in.
podgy legs splash and
cavort in what must seem like an ocean,
to them,
no one has said thanks.
they don’t look sweltered at all.
breathe.
keep breathing.
when its over and the lumpen
mush crawls onto your knee
clustered in towelling and need
the lungs fill up again,
breath you didn’t know you were still saving
floods
and you think of an acceptable
and very inefficient reason to stay alive.
Laura Cooney is a writer from Edinburgh with work widely published in print and online; most recently in Roi Faineant Press, Five Minute Lit, Northern Gravy and Punk Noir Press. Her second chapbook; No Trauma/No Drama is coming August 24, courtesy of Backroom Poetry. She is seeking representation and is the co-editor of Frazzled Lit @frazzledlitmag. Find her on socials @lozzawriting and www.lozzawriting.com. When she's not writing, she'll be found with her daughters, as close to the sea as possible. There will be ice-cream!