Scribbled Thoughts

23:52

Dunking down

like a bobbing apple,

the movement

looks exhausting

and slows him

to a painful speed

that causes a

traffic of swimmers

behind.

What does he search for

within the water’s depths?

23:51

Human splash zone’s

absence settles the

water and calms the waves.

Was it too small for him,

unable to sweep his presence

without leaving spluttering angry swimmers?

Or perhaps he quit altogether,

his daily escape

no longer an option.

23:50

Solid orange of unyielding

disappointment,

announcing a broken

connection that no resetting

will fix,

it screams for the attention

of a professional,

and refuses to budge

until one appears…

Tomorrow,

between the hours

of eight and three.

23:49

Predicted but not believed

its forthcoming still shocked

the forewarned

as the streets

hide under layers of white

and conceal

their scars beneath.

23:48

Freezer blues,

four hours of frigid air

and bated movements.

Boiling water thaws trapped dirt

for only moments before it

solidifies and cocoons

in a transparent prison.

Scrape and struggle to clear away

ice-encased mistakes

and see if anything

looks better.

23:47

Miss. Eventually

too scared of life to try

too stuck in stillness to care,

fake comfort masks

the deadly threat

of not moving

until all crumbles away

and there’s nowhere left

to go, nowhere even

fit to fail.

23:46

Count my steps

rate my fitness,

does my dedication

satisfy enough

to slim my fat

and build my muscles?

Am I making progress

at all?

23:45

Your car is on the drive

at eight a.m.

so you have no plans, right?

We can block you in

and shove ladders, scaffolding,

our presence in the way,

working on a house

that isn’t even yours.

You have no life, right?

You weren’t about to head

to the gym and try

better yourself.

So stay inside and

listen to our awful

music blasting

into your confidence,

shredding the

little you finally built.

Update

A quick update today. I’m doing a lot of fitness challenges during March time, and also trying to write a piece for an anthology submission.

I’m doing a swimming challenge, a gym based one and two cancer research uk ones. One is to walk at least 10,000 steps everyday in March and the other is a custom one I set to walk, run and swim 2023 miles for the year 2023.

If anyone is interested in sponsoring me I’ll include the links. But otherwise this might explain why I’ll probably be posting walking/exercising based poems for a while.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/kathleens-walk-all-over-cancer-giving-page-40

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/400-miles-in-2023