adult swim monsters & watching
the titanic sink in the diving well

i make up a legend about 
adult swim--
i don't tell anyone but
i imagine 
that the lifeguards
have to let loose 
the sea monsters
lying dormant in the 
blue depths of the deep end &
they know that they won't
eat a few adults doing laps
back & forth in the big-kid
pool. i eat a twin popsicle
& i never split it right down
the middle like
i want to-- i eat cheeseburgers
& sometimes soft pretzels 
dipped in artificial cheese 
& my mom says it's gross 
but i secretly wish that all
cheese was bright orange
& warm & goopy--
when adult swim is over
i wash the crumbs off
my hands on the first dive--
open my eyes underwater to 
the blurry deep & i see tentacles
reach up around me--
the bold bright eye of a giant squid
opens to watch me-- i'm afraid of
the deep end monsters
who wriggle out of my dinosaur 
books-- still waiting
on my spongebob towel in
the grass-- a megalodon grins--
mouth full of dull kitchen knives--
brushes past my ankles--
so i pull my feet in & sink deeper now--
i wonder if i'll grow gills--
a mosasaurus makes a snap at my toes
& i resurface-- squirt water
out nostrils & spit chlorine 
from my mouth-- the air
is whiter & static from the chlorine
in my eyes & some high school kids
play basketball in their swim suites--
the thump of the orange ball on the
asphalt court sounds like the creaking 
of the mast of a ship--
i look & see in the diving well-- the
final glimpses of the bow of 
the titanic descend into the cold--
everyone knows the diving well is the 
most arctic place in pool--
i swim under again-- blink as the lights
of the ship blare at me & i see 
various items floating up
& away from the ship-- candelabras--
frilly napkins--
opera glasses & the bow of a violin--
when i listen closer i can hear the phantom
of the band still playing on the deck &
i think of how many passengers are still
below deck & i know that history
is like a tape deck & i can't go down there
& save anyone from becoming
part of the ocean-- 
when i come up again for
air my brother billy
is sitting on the side of the pool splashing
his feet-- he's eating a blue airhead
& he doesn't know anything about
what all is under water in the big kid pool--
they call adult
swim again & i leap out--
having survived brushes with prehistoric
monsters i'm not prepared for anything
larger that might come out
in search of children's feet like mine--
from our towels we split cheese fries
& i try to convince billy to try the diving
board-- i don't think he'd be able to
see the last moments of the titanic so
i don't tell him that i did--
it would make him sad to watch
so many instruments fill up with water--
echoing their sounds into the tiles of the
pool--
we go to the baby pool where the water is 
shallow & warm--
sit side by side under the mushroom
fountain & pretend it's a waterfall--
we're loch ness monsters--
bellies full of cheese fries
& feet & hands wrinkled 
like wet raisins from a day 
spent submerged in chlorine-- 
we dry out like used twin popsicle 
sticks on our towels--
watch the sun melt into a dreamsicle--
orange & creamy at the center--
i can heard the violins
swallow water & the megalodon
scream into the diving well--