There were stones on the path to the
swimming pool
sharp and painful but
they wouldn’t let you wear your shoes

we’d change in the classroom
the blue prefab had large widows and strip lights
boys and girls together
for the afternoon treat

the pool was tiny. You could spit across it, now, if it was
still there, not swallowed by a house

Years after, we’d go to the pool on summer afternoons
drive up in the old red VW
change in the hut
and splash about in the water
trying not to drown
us and friends
when we still spoke