It’s Poetry Friday and, as the weather here starts to warm up, my thoughts have turned to swimming. I’m lucky enough to be able to swim all year round in my local heated pool, and I love that, but I really really love to swim in an outdoor pool or at the beach.
When I was growing up, we lived in the same street as the local pool. That was wonderful, but the pool was not heated, which meant that it was only open for about four months of the year. SO, it didn’t matter whether it was really warm enough, or whether the water had reached a decent temperature, on the first day the pool opened I was there. Today’s poem is about that experience, that feeling. I hope you like it.
First Swim
Not a swimming photo – since I couldn’t find one – but some flowery balls of sunshine from the garden to brighten your day, wherever you are.
Summer’s here
and I rejoice
to see the OPEN sign outside the pool.
Blue water beckons
and once I’ve paid
I dump my towel and rush
to greet my old friend.
SPLASH!
Bliss bubbles and bibbles
as I plunge into icy depths.
(Poem and photo copyright Sally Murphy)
Do you love to swim? Or is there something else that you eagerly anticipate with the changing of the seasons? I’d love to hear about it.
Have a wonderful Friday. Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by Teacher Dance. Head over there to see what other poetry goodness has been shared on the blogosphere.
Thanks for your refreshing splash into water, especially appreciated as our days here grow shorter and colder. And the lovely, sunny flowers too!
You are very welcome, Michelle. Thanks for visiting.
I am always reminded how far away you are, seasons topsy-turvy, and it always sounds lovely to me there.
Thanks Brenda. I do count myself lucky to live where I do, but I also love so much of what I see in my US friend’s posts. Right now I am actually in the UAE and so experiencing the beauty of a very busy, very warm, city.
We had snow yesterday, which is absolutely shockingly early for us, so I am just going to close my eyes and imagine that I’m going for a swim in Australia, instead! 🙂
Oh. sending you some warmth. As it happens, I am currently in the UAE, where it is even warmer than Australia. I’ve been soaking it up.
Enjoy the warming weather as we cool down. I love to swim, but haven’t much lately. Maybe I should start getting myself back up and into the pool (indoor and heated) again. I miss the rhythm of the strokes.
Thanks Kay. I think there is a poetry in the strokes up and down the pool, and often find that ideas solidify or morph into better ones while my brain is counting laps.
I love the undiluted enthusiasm of your memory-inspired poem. Those last two lines are great!
Thank you Molly.
I love to swim. I’ve been at it since I was four. Nothing can simultaneously calm and energize me like swimming laps. I count laps with a mantra of words that are a combination of affirmations and memories.
I knew we were kindred spirits, Mary-Lee! I do the same with my lap counting.
I love that as things are cooling down here, they are warming up there. I also love the word icy in the last line.
yes, it’s funny how we play opposites all year round, isn’t it? thanks for visiting, Liz.
Of course, here in the mainland of the US, fall is what most are considering. I do love swimming, and going to the beach with family every summer, floating in the gulf, snorkeling for the ‘wild’ views beneath. I’m glad you’re getting ready for the water everywhere, Sally “bliss, bubbles and bibbles’, and thanks for the sunshine flowers.
You are welcome,Linda, and thanks for visiting.
What a fun poem to read, especially those last lines!
Thanks Tara.