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 sink:
Indescribable Beauty in Continuity
Banter between friends makes life worth living.
It’s the sort of moment you want to keep for a rainy day,
Hence, I kept a bucket in my pocket,
to meet my friends on a sunny day.
The picnic’s clean.
The jokes are loud,
but not so much that it hurts.
The moments come together for a perfectly simple infinity.
So, I pause the scene.
I try to memorize the scent of baked bread,
the sound of simple chatter,
the taste of mixed berries,
as if I could replay them forever with the same HD quality that fades from me now.
I lost the rhythm of the story.
I miss the privilege of being with you.
I chose wrong.
I should have held the camera inward.
So, that’s what I do at the very next joke.
I carefully record the expanding of my chest.
It goes so light as to disappear.
I bend over to the grassfield that is my lungs,
I hold my camera close the the blades and zoom in,
until I am pulled away by some question I do not hear.
I answer succinctly, sufficiently.
I turn back to my field,
but the momentum’s gone.
My bucket has been emptied yet again.
No, this has to be right.
It just makes sense.
I have to be right.
The next moment, another anecdote lifts me up,
like the shove of a wave on a surfboard,
I curl my toes to stay aboard.
My vision goes black and I lie near the shore, unharmed.
But the wave is gone.
I brace for the dark, heavy small talk,
and am carried to the next wave.
“I do remember, it was so fun.”
I laugh and find myself back on shore,
again and again,
each time, seeing more:
first, the moment before I hit the water,
next, the moment I jump off the board,
next, the whole ride,
and I go back to toe curling, but I’m learning.
I think to thank the secret force,
The unexplained instructor,
but it tells me not to dwell on gratitude too long.
by aquae
Submissions for issue 10 sink/swim close Sunday 15th March. All submission guidelines can be found here.
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