Angela volunteers for Waterfront and argues with campers over lifejackets from sunrise until dusk. She hoses off the sailboats, the rowboats, the canoes. Angela loves archery, not boats. But even more, she loves Dev, the advanced-beginner swim teacher, dutifully instructing adolescents, directly next to the boat lagoon.
Chara Campanella is an Emmy-nominated writer/ producer whose work can be seen everywhere children have eyeballs. See more at yawpshop.com.
I go out to soak my knees in the above-ground pool. All the pool toys come to rub against me like affectionate pets. HELLO vinyl doughnut, I say. HELLO black and gray faux truck tire. HELLO burgundy lounge chair that one day I plan to conquer. HELLO. Yes, Daddy’s home.
Michael Walker is a writer living in Newark, Ohio. He is the author of two books: 7-22 and The Vampire Henry. He has also seen his poetry and prose published in PIF, Sky Island Journal, and The Adelaide Literary Journal.
Strawberries line a path to your garden:
Shimmering, golden, quivering! The lake!
You are ripe;
Will you heal me if
I fall into you, this dry, cold soul?
(Bury me in your depth! Taste my fear!)
Rain falls; I come to the surface:
A war finally won with only
Me.
Katherine Darlington has articles in many publications including poetry anthologies, along with several published novels. When she isn’t riding horses or hiking on some mountain trail, she’s working on a story. See more of her work at New Beginnings.
White-nosed and Ray-Banned, the summertime soldiers stalk across the beach, resplendent in their neon orange swim trunks and gleaming neck whistles. They eye each other, keeping track, keeping score. One of them is kind, but not so kind that he can be bullied. From him, I’ll learn to stay adrift.
Carolyn R. Russell is the author of “In the Fullness of Time,” a dystopian thriller published by Vine Leaves Press in 2020. Her humorous YA mystery, “Same As It Never Was,” was released in 2018 by Big Table. “The Films of Joel and Ethan Coen,” her volume of film criticism, was published by McFarland & Company in 2001. Her poetry, essays and short stories have been featured or are forthcoming in numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, 3rd Wednesday, Litro Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Club Plum Literary Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, Orca: a Literary Journal, and Dime Show Review. Carolyn lives on and writes from Boston’s North Shore.
The picnic was everything they’d hoped for.
The table, beautifully set, sparkled in the afternoon sun.
Heavenly aromas wafted on the summer breeze.
They anxiously gathered around in anticipation of the upcoming feast.
Betty brought potato salad.
Bill made his famous meatloaf.
Sadly for them, Mildred brought a fly swatter.
Susan Gale Wickes lives in Indiana. She enjoys writing short stories, cartoon captioning contests, and the occasional picnic.
Upon nearing Autumn’s arrival,
I see Nature’s last hoorah of vivacious manifestation,
A proclamation of her time in youthful fervor
the bassoon’s bellowing croak
amidst a once booming symphony
now all coming to a diminuendo in variance
Like the savory peck of a spry elder
Even still, muffled by prospect.
Lydia is an emerging writer from the Midwest who enjoys long nature walks
Her look was summery; the weather was not. She stood shivering in her flower-speckled sundress, staring upward as the heavens opened, and torrents descended. Colourful ribbons in her hair were soon plastered against her scalp.
The forecast promised hot and sunny, but during the pandemic, nothing unfolded as it should.
Alan Kemister is the pen name of a retired scientist experimenting with more fictitious writing. He’s currently working on a climate change novel. Get the gory details at alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com
Two sisters, best friends, ran to the pool’s edge.
Nostrils filled with chlorine, sunscreen, peanut butter. Mother called, but twenty minutes was forever when shimmery waves signaled.
Everything—the cherry Koolaid mustaches, the sticky fingers—would be wiped clean.
They bent knees, inhaled sharply, pinched noses, then jumped, holding hands.
Melanie Maggard is a flash fiction and short story writer living in Seattle. She works as a psychology professor for an online university but hopes to grow up to be an author some day.
Surprised by chill after weeks of scorchers, she holds her bag of groceries to her chest, purchases for a solitary meal.
Two girls skip by, flaunting autumn exuberance, ignoring homework, ignoring regimen and rigor. She alone grieves sweaty embraces, August smells, dreams expired as moderate temperatures and cooler heads return.
Nancy Ludmerer lives in New York City with her husband Malcolm and cat Sandy, named after the storm he fled (right into Nancy’s arms) and Sandy Koufax. Her story “First Night” appears in Best Small Fictions 2016.
Fields of vivid yellow; enthusiastic sunflowers tell me stories of love, life, and laughter as I lay amongst them.
Imposing, tall, stretching, kissing the sun.
I rearrange them in their vases. Together we look out the kitchen window, sighing.
They’re wilting now, but I count the days ’til next year.
Michael is currently writing bios for up-and-coming artists in the U.K.