deepening sunset
the lake rises up
with flamingos

— Vanessa Proctor

summer heat
the whisper of rock pools
becoming sea

— Colin Oliver

his gift of lilac jelly—
back to normal
in air quotes

— Tanya McDonald

estuary

baths were made for hot water and epsom salts for lavender and poetry candlelight and wine for rainy days and cold nights for shaving legs and wrinkled toes for music and for silence for relaxation contemplation and sometimes even revelations that only come when body mind and spirit are baptized in the cleansing waters of leisure

in that alternate reality the one on the other side of the wormhole i am a mermaid with a tail of amethyst and emeralds swimming through the waters of conception becoming all that i was ever meant to be

a half woman tugged whole by the tides

slowly lowered
the drawbridge
on a fishbowl castle

— Terri L. French