They/said it was fried/the frog
but it looked more/buoyant/to me than that
more boiled if anything/round/and filled with
gas/flicked from the pool with the hard round
edge/of a flipper
the water/plumbago/they/in it/slick with fuck
you/lithe
I put the pool net/down/and bend to pick up the
dead/amphibian/with a hornbeam/leaf/pulled
from the hedge
the wall/the screen/between my thumb
and forefinger/in lieu/of a glove/and I reach for
its hind leg/the furthest
thing/of itself/from itself/I can bear to touch
its foot almost a web/of talon/ridged and deep
veined/like the hornbeam leaf/bats wing
I fling it again/behind a topiarised box ball in
the/hope/that it will feed/something else/out of
sight
they bat/the ball/from one side to the other/with
padded mitts/and make
water/plumbago/marks/on the checkered
slate/tiles/jumping in from the sides/with
knees/tucked/beneath their chins/squeal
glare/from the silvered Norwegian
wood/deck/grey green olive trees/line the path
between/the pool/and the pool house/where
they sit/on the steps
cupped hand conspiracy/or confession
soft bleached/down on browning skin
one of them reclines in the water/plumbago/the
same sprawl/arms and legs/frogged/on an
inflatable lido
floating/but not moving/in the absent air/and he
looks at the others/and says/ if this is dying
I guess/it’s not so bad

---

by

published in