Apr 172014
THE LADIES’ POND
The swimming ladies of the Highgate pond are various.
Some are old and lean with hard thin arms breaking November ice,
Others are buxom with low slung breasts shifting as they move.
Some run from the meadows and jump in with a whoop,
Others tentatively toe the black bowl of water for slow immersion.
A few have tattoos of writhing snakes and climbing roses.
While some modestly struggle to dress behind towels,
A few brazen ones do naked cartwheels.
But in the brackish water they are just bobbing heads among the geese.
ALISON MARR
