Basic Pool Maintenance
it’s shock that the salamander dogs in
half dead some bit
of backyard napalm measured
and tossed into the deep end
but before I say yeah well
me too there is time
to kneel on the slip-proof deck
to reach a hand under him
and to walk the deer path down
to the little creek
past the feeder for the waxwings
all bright yellow and black
so that it looks so much like they do
they can’t find it in the trees
it takes time out here
where the radio fails
or brings a stairway
to heaven on repeat
to know if you are making things
any better the big fish
stitch together the shallows
the beaver packed
it up last flood
but I still try anyway to be like
this spotted cup mouth
sometimes in the water
sometimes in the mud
Intermediate Pool Maintenance
even if you don’t want to
you’ll have to start small
frog eggs dragonfly larva
newts until you aren’t sure
if you are healing the water
or making a tonic for disappointment
when it’s finally the field mouse’s turn
to dance rigor mortis frozen in the filter
you go in yourself
in brand new trunks
forget the sunscreen
turn pink in your wanting
to make some small seeable thing
better remember how
once you were called a salve
and you had to look
it up to remember
if it can only help
what is already hurt
or if it can be a type of protection
so put the mouse in the bucket
put the bucket on the deck
pretend you have done everything
you possibly could
as you hose down
with the water from the spring
look out at the clouds
that might mean rain or might mean fever
and don’t stop looking
until you’re really not sure
Expert Pool Maintenance
call it you’re big as a bear
in this year’s trunks
so let the chemicals practice
their cursive on the surface
then flick that belly shaped
filter off
there is no one to ask
if it’s getting any better
it’s okay to stand looking
a long time before
the towel gets thrown
to the deck chair
before the last fire ant
gets brushed from your leg
you haven’t done anything wrong
but who really cares
the water stayed cloudy
the frogs never left
you went online read
every bottle twice
it’s true some nights
you were drunk
and forgot to shut
it off forgot to turn
it down you can
let that ride you if you want
because that you’ve earned
but just look
the storms move past
like paintings of storms
moving past and the shadow
from the arbor
hides your sunburn
from the sun
it’s okay to try
your hand at anything else
it’s okay again
to try anything
and it’s okay
to just be done
Mikey Swanberg holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and is the author of the chapbook, Zen and the art of Bicycle Delivery (Rabbit Catastrophe Press). He is a recipient of the Jane Vance prize for poetry, and lives in Chicago.