Thank you once again to The Big Issue for finding the space for another summer piece. Here’s how it starts…

During the winter months the wetsuit, snorkel and flippers lay dormant, gathering dust in the garage. The wetsuit hangs limply, inside-out over a chair, the arms and legs touching the concrete floor. The snorkel and flippers are on top of a rusty filing cabinet, the snorkel with nothing to look at and no breaths to take, the flippers with no legs to help propel.

Smaller objects sit in the feet of the flippers – an aqua swimming cap (What other colour, truly, could there be?) and inside their own little plastic container, ear plugs.

In my bedroom are the bathers – black, red, light blue, dark blue – all waiting for the saltwater…

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Note to regular readers of this little blog: the title of this story was serendipitous, The Big Issue editor being unaware of my recent Hope poems!