Wet Tissue Through Wrinkled Fingers

by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

There was a scream from the water
and everyone
watched.

A young child
in orange water wings
ran out of the water
and began to turn purple.

First the hand puffed up to three times
the size
and then the arms
below the elbow.

Jellyfish,
some man yelled
as the panicked swimmers
trampled one another
on their way to the shore
and an empty lifeguard chair
nearby
sat without comment.

Wet tissue through
wrinkled fingers
as concerned parents ran into the water
to save their floundering
namesakes

and the world
turned purple as an eggplant

and
cried.