Ten Poems about Swimming

There’s something at once elemental and child-like about moving through water – whether we paddle like a dog or can manage an elegant crawl.

These delightful poems explore the many joys of swimming in pools, rivers and oceans. We travel all the way from a child learning to swim at home on a piano stool to a swimmer in a public baths which become suddenly splendid

Poems by Vievee Francis, Paul Henry, Ranjit Hoskote, Hannah Lowe, Nicholas Murray, Katrina Naomi, Jay Parini, Katherine Pierpoint, Stevie Smith and Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch

Cover illustration by Sara Boccaccini Meadows