To my friends, in the early hours of the Summer

We dived in at the wrong end

the sky dressed like a rocket lolly

us undressed in knickers, boxers, sports bras, socks

while the weeds felt us up like one of them men from the pub

the sleaze of the summer months

we splashed each other with the dirty water and I’m up on someone’s shoulders

thighs chafing a drumstick sunburn

from here I saw see the whole world

that we carefully curate to our parents

while we make ourselves sick swallowing every sweet detail

and laugh about it in the heat of the morning after

windows wide, all of us lied on top of each other

because the pond will probably grace us all with UTIs

but were doing alright

yeah, Mum, I’m doing just fine.