Downstream

someone overtakes and when
I look round someone else
kicks me in the foot.
We’re herded out of the
water and a man takes a
microphone to welcome us.
The fastest time so far has
been just under twenty
minutes but for some it could
take two hours. ‘In twenty
minutes,’ he says, ‘you’ll
wonder what all those
sleepless nights were about.
An hour from now, you’ll be