August Sea

The Hoe, Swell, 9.30pm-10.15pm

We each wore our swimsuits, headtorches,
towfloats, glowsticks -
kit of lifers,
descend from our cave.

Into the water, up to our knees,
sparklers in hand, waving at the shore,
wade in, remnants into a bucket of sand, double dip,
huffing at the cold, this emotion, giddiness - nothing I've seen before.

In comes the bar, on a body board,
you couldn't make it up - adorned
in coloured lights, weighted with cans
of G and T and fudge.

Out, into the darkness, bar on a rope, team of at least twenty,
laughter between gasps and quiet. A tribe of madness upon the sea.
We tread,  half way to the buoy, while the barman serves drinks
and hand feeds you fudge as if a too familiar seal.

The show begins, illuminating the sky,
bang, bang, whizz pop, bang,
I didn't plan to stay long
but I can't leave.

The land is light years
away from toasts and chatter, front crawl lengths to keep warm.
Where else can one escape themselves? Out eel her.
Half Naiad, half human.

#FireworkChampionships