chocolate poetry

Swimming pool, Part I: they're not idiots

they're not idiots....
they just swim
closer to the shallow end
smoking at the brim

letting their head fall back
exhale wherever it's worth
the only thing they can focus on
is how the puff curls

cold marble tickles their pruned toes
dull, patterned metal nips at their tongues
eyes half closed
begging to be shut with droplets of "harmless" liquid
we bathe in more often than we like to admit

why do they smile?
because they don't care
all they ever wanted
was never there

but they found comfort
in simply floating around
they're rarely grounded
finding reality too loud
they don't want to worry

they can't afford to worry
it wouldn't pay them back in any other way

sometimes i wish they'd give me a grain of their relief
though
some vines never stop choking their suffocating rose
"because they care"

- H. xx 🌻