At Swim Press we publish work by emerging writers to uplift new voices. We define emerging writers as those with seven or less publications to their name.
For those who are not eligible to be published in our biannual literary magazines, we like to showcase their work on our blog. For issue 10 sink/swim, we’ve received some submissions we want to share which may inspire your submission.
In response to the theme swim:
A Timely Water Boatman
I followed an ailing butterfly through the park. I had chased away the sparrow that had mangled its body and marvelled at how the insect’s cabbage white wings kept on beating the mid-morning air, graceful in its fading resilience.
The butterfly noticeably started to waver as we approached a pond behind the rhododendrons. I didn’t recall this body of water, nor could I account for the smooth white fog that seemed to curve its distant edges.
As the butterfly struggled against rising moisture and dipped closer to the water, another insect drifted out of the fog and into focus. It had the yellow markings and oar-like legs of a lesser water boatman, though its body was black instead of brown. This water boatman exerted little effort as it aligned itself under the plummeting butterfly and caught it on its abdomen with barely a splash.
The soft white on mat black was unnerving to watch yet natural enough in appearance. The butterfly trembled as it brought its wingtips together, as if assuming a prideful stance before the water boatman bore it away. Those long legs steered them both back into the fog at a steady and somehow more solemn pace.
I lingered long after they had disappeared, just thinking about airborne elegance and aquatic forbearance. What had arrived just in the nick of time looked like a corixa punctata, but its dark coloration and almost sombre rescue suggested something else. Not so much a water boatman. More of a ferryman.
by Owen Townend
Submissions for issue 10 sink/swim close Sunday 15th March. All submission guidelines can be found here.
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