Swimming

The public pool was as familiar

as the swim wrinkles

on the soles of her feet

—since the funeral,

Mum would take me there

more than three times a week.

We’d been there with my older brother

when Mum would still swim.

We followed the rule:

changing, then shower!

but I stopped racing,

as it felt like a whim.

It was busy that day, six weeks in,

as I got lost amid

the hands and heads;

my Mum pulled me up

—just in time—

on my swimsuit straps.

Josje Weusten is a Dutch author and poet writing in English and living in Belgium. She is an alumna of the Faber Academy London and teaches creative writing at Maastricht University. She is the winner of the 2025 Short Stories of Belgium Competition. Her debut novel, Fake Fish, has been published by Sparsile Books.