Thalassophobia

the blue abyss

Li Yang /Unsplash

I can barely get my tongue
around this word — it makes me splutter.
Alas, I’ve always suffered
from the shallow end of this complex,
ever since I clung to a tombstone float
at the old swimming baths,
that aquatic morgue
where I laboured for the sake
of ten yards — water-logged,
rubber bathing cap chafing my chin,
breathing all wrong,
fearful of the bigger splashes.