---

 

This writing was accepted for publication in the 84 page perfect-bound issue... Down in the Dirt magazine (v091) (the February 2011 Issue)		Order this issue from our printer as an ISSN# paperback book: or as the ISBN# book “the Line to Power”:

Order this writing in the book Literary Town Hall dirt edition		order the 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Warm Pools

Jon Mathewson

A cheap plastic Adirondack chair
Kids play with oversize styrofoam ducks
In an indoor pool in the summer.

Decades ago friends down the street
Let us use their pool in the winter
A short walk through cold and snow, and then

We would open a heavy five foot zipper
And step into a steamy zone
Hit by the smells of chlorine and tropical plants.

Some days we would watch the snow fall
Around the opaque plastic bubble, one day
We found one neighbor naked, with secretary.

After the divorce, and then the oil embargoes,
Of course the bubble was inflated less often,
Eventually sold and carted off completely.

That familiar smell of chlorine hit me
Walking into this indoor community pool,
Laughter, as families play together, echoes around

And so, will this joyful place, decades
Hence be regarded as another relic
Of an age of self-centered over abundances,

When water was free, and children stayed indoors,
Waterfalls came from giant mushroom caps,
Otter runs were made from plastic,

When these children are my age,
Will they look back upon a lost paradise
Or curse their parent’s trips to vanity fair?

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...