Swimming Through Summer
Judy Brackett
On endless summer afternoons,
we set out to swim through the fields
toward the ends of the Earth,
maybe walk partway on our hands
as our father liked to do—
pennies, nickels, dimes,
cellophane-wrapped mints
raining
from his pockets,
his pantlegs ruffling
up to his knees—
and hours later we would wade our way home
to the long evenings, and he would try to teach us how—
something like a frog squat,
palms spread on the grass,
knees propped on our upper arms/elbows,
our legs slowly reaching for sky,
and we’d wobble there a few dizzy moments
then we’d float through the twilight to supper, coins
jingling in our pockets, mints and clover
on our tongues, lightning-bug smears on our foreheads,
our heads damp-cloudy with downside-up wonders.
Contributors
Many talented individuals are featured in the West Marin Review. Please click below for this volume’s contributors.
- FRONT COVER
- Kay Bradner Ten Birds
- BACK COVER
- Cathy Rose Balance
- PROSE
- Jackie Garcia Mann Bolinas Bound
- Michael Sykes Leaving for Italy
- Dave Stamey To Steelhead Lake
- Joan Thornton Two Short Stories
- Barbara Heenan On Religion: Oklahoma City
- G. David Miller Prepare for Landing
- Kaitlyn Gallagher The Blows
- Cynthia Fontaine Reehl What It Takes
- Molly Giles Next Time
- Paul Strohm Masculinities
- Brooke Williams Post-Election Walkabout
- POETRY
- Tobi Earnheart-Gold Untitled
- Mary Winegarden Between Birth and Song
- Ariel Wish Through Motions
- Nancy Cherry All My Biographies Are Lies
- Stephen Ajay Giving
- Karen Benke Spring Cleaning
- Lisa Piazza Here
- Barry Roth Henry Evans Poppies
- Thomas Hickey Monk’s Empty Eye
- Satchel Trivelpiece Oh, Animals
- David Swain Dead Reckoning
- Robert Hass DANCING
- Deborah Buchanan A Bowl’s Circumference
- Prartho Sereno Emergency Lock-Down Drill
- Dave Seter Douglas Iris
- Judy Brackett Swimming Through Summer
- Gina Cloud Ken
- ART + ARTIFACT
- Kay Bradner Ten Birds
- Christa Burgoyne Small Barn and Late Afternoon “C” Street
- Lissa Nicolaus Country Road
- Kimberly Carr Harmon Wooded Gate
- Emmeline Craig Living on the Edge
- Matthew Polvorosa Kline Tule Elk at Dawn, Point Reyes National Seashore
- Elizabeth Gorek Forgotten Summer
- Susan Hall California Twilight
- Sandy White Roy’s Redwoods
- Jaune Evans Fog Heaven
- Isis Hockenos Side Street Chickens #1 & #2
- Caitlin McCaffrey Biggie’s Vision
- Marius Salone and Sofia Borg Young Red Onions
- Lily Andrews Hummingbird
- Susan Putnam Untitled #261
- Amanda Tomlin Laird’s Boathouse
- Jani Gillette You Wearing You
- Christel Dillbohner Iridescent Cloud
- Philip Bone Three Masks
- May Ta Somber Summer
- Toni Littlejohn Fire Under Ice
- Xander Weaver-Scull Arctic Peregrine Falcons
- Grace Nichols and Belle Nichols Southworth Letters from Bolinas
- Julia Edith Rigby Waste in Paradise
- Van Waring Coastal Cross Section
- Rich Clarke Kehoe Morning
- Johanna Baruch Enthymesis
- Michel Venghiattis Lili Marlene
- Glenn Carter Night of the Falling Flower/Lucid N13-2
- Sherrie Lovler Crossroads
- Mary Siedman Bolinas Beach
- Jon Ching Flowers in Her Hair
- Mark Ropers Bound for Kilkenney Beach
- Mary K. Shisler Wabi Sabi Tulips
- Richard Kirschman Bogside Remembered
- Patricia Connolly Late Afternoon at McInnis
- Bob Kubik Fox
- Cathy Rose Accept and Balance
- Anne Faught Coming Together