Poetry by Leia John

           Felipe Tofani CC



A Pool Skimmer

Battles for life happen
  in the desert;
     saints, 
       demoniacs, 
         madmen,
                     Jesus.

My desert was a 
 shitty community pool,
    brimming with gallons of
      toddler piss
        and
          ruptured
            fart bubbles.

I'd hopped the fence at 4 a.m. 
         fearful I'd skewer my cunt
            and be stuck like that
                     under the humid
                        moonless
                           Florida
                                  sky.

I'd jumped in with my, 
   No. 
     His clothes on, 
       like some pathetic
            Ophelia.
               Even my Chuck Taylor's 
                  which made me feel so
                        Rock 'n Roll.

I could hear my breathing, 
   my heartbeat;
      In. 
        Thump, thump.
           Out. 
             Thump,  thump. 


And I sent up a prayer to
     whatever
        God was listening. 
             Even if it was 
                 nothing at all. 


Just let me die, 
    in this piss 
        filled pool 
             and in the morning some
                 poor slob can fish me out.
                     Long handled skimmer;
                         and me too dead to care about
                              the burden. 
​

Leia John is a writer, seminarian and human rights activist based in New York, USA. She studies Social Ethics and theology at Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan and is currently an intern at the General Board of Global Ministries at the United Nations.

Her passion for writing began at a young age and blossomed in to a full-on compulsion in her late teens. When she is not busy attempting to survive on coffee in an effort to finish her school work, she is either furiously scribbling in her notebook or writing for www.poemsthatsuck.com    

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