The lido is an island state, I’ve just decreed that. I’ve got a pass but you can have one too. Everyone’s welcome, especially the non-splashy, except men who plough into you with bad crawl, they can fuck off. This is our island, the elms are enormous, you can dive for days, the edges are unravelling, come in, it’s wet, you’re trembling, I’m ready.
Originally published untitled in Failed States issue no.1: island, September 2017. Photograph by Olivia Laing.
Olivia Laing accidentally wrote a novel. It’s called Crudo.
→ www.olivialaing.co.uk
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