in the waves
of successful and
giddy young women
they are beautiful
they smile enough
their warm salt water
flows over me
their kind confidence
fills my nose and burns
and I feel
like the old failed fish
flopping around on shore
until the next wave
of their happy chatter
smacks me floating again
through the CO2 bonanza
they exhale
all over my dull
and shivering scales.
-Published March 2016 in issue 3.2 of S/tick's online literary journal!