late Spring, 2020
So this is how it happens. Two days in,
I tell my girlfriend that I want a pool
so I could scream underwater. I’m afraid
the bathtub’s reverberations would worry
the dogs, and in-ground concrete can absorb
more than cannonballs, muffled calls of “Marco,”
summer thunder. I can already taste chlorine—
can puff-cheeks, emit an upward dribble
of bubbles, or a geyser-like torrent sound.
Sunlight oxidizes pure each hertz
as it bursts at surface—even tears diffuse
and leave you in squint & grimace. Hold it
in: given the ozone of isopropyl antiseptic,
aerosol fumigation, it’s better to drink
your oxygen than drown in air.