Arun Jeetoo
THEY
After A.L. Kennedy
The delights of their bodies are a gift they don’t understand.
Delights a gift understand their bodies the of don’t they are.
of a gift, the don’t delights understand bodies their are they.
their understand the delights a don’t bodies of are they gift.
bodies understand they are their gift, don’t delights of the a.
are delights the bodies, understand they don’t of a gift their.
a gift of are don’t their they delights, bodies, understand the.
gift don’t understand, their are bodies they of a the delights.
they bodies delights the a gift understand don’t their are of.
don’t understand a gift of their the they are delights bodies.
understand their bodies are a gift of the they delights don’t.
They don’t get your body like i do.
like i want to—
again.
THE SWIMMING POOL GOD
in the changing room all the boys were
enamoured
by his rouge marked thighs
purple neck bruise
white blistered knuckles
they all took notes and interview
the swimming pool god
lapped it up faster than any
protein shake
during practice
his electric limbs pulsated
to the rhythms
of a sailfish
the golden medals
outshined
his smiles winning every
championship because
water was
an elysium to leave behind the adults
who monopolised mesomorphic bodies
water was
A vindication of existence
without prevarication
this wonderful time of his life
submerged by the weight of
his shrieks
fall
the light did not reach him
Arun Jeetoo is a poet and educator from London, UK. His words appear in The London Reader, CivicLecister’s Black Lives Matter Anthology, 3 of Cups Press and The Best New British and Irish Poets 2019-2021. His debut pamphlet I Want to Be the One You Think About at Night was published by Waterloo Press (2020). Instagram @G2poetry.