Swimmer For Hire

I saw a woman I used to know
and when I knew her we were kids
on the swim team.  We used to
put Jell-O mix on lemons and limes
or sometimes if we didn’t have
Jell-O mix we’d use sugar … in-between
races at swim meets.  It was for
extra energy.  We used to carry the
Jell-O mix, the sugar in empty
Cool Whip containers.  This was
before energy drinks and bars and
huge jolts of caffeine in tiny
aluminum cans.  This was before
underwater radios or MP3 players
and underwater cameras.  We rode
our bikes to the pool or to the movies
parking them on the bike racks
outside.  Those bike racks are gone.
The movie theatre condemned.
The swim team disbanded.

I saw a woman I used to know.
I didn’t tell her that I don’t swim anymore.

LB Sedlacek is an award-winning poet and author with poetry and fiction appearing in many different journals and zines. Her latest poetry books are The Adventures of Stick People on Cars (Alien Buddha Press), The Architect of French Fries (Presa Press), and Words and Bones (Finishing Line Press.)  She is a former Poetry Editor for ESC! Magazine and also co-hosted the podcast for the small press, “Coffee House to Go,” for several years. She teaches poetry at local elementary and middle schools and publishes a free resource for poets, “The Poetry Market Ezine.” In her free time, LB enjoys swimming, reading, and taking guitar lessons.