Beach Photo

by Claire Massey


I don’t remember
this portable playpen
from the 1950s
with fat, wooden slats
barely permitting
a view of the breakers.

Must have been my third
or second summer?
I look to be
a handful,
mid-century girl-child
howling for freedom,
a bar-rattling,
foot-stomping
rebel.

My mother watches
intently, looks to be
off-kilter,
losing equilibrium,
feet seeking leverage,
in the lopsided sand.

On a boardwalk distant,
my father levels a tripod,
narrows his focus,
closes an eye,
captures his subjects.


* * * * *

Claire Massey finds joy in discovering and supporting literary artists who further our quest for understanding of self and the world. Among other journals, recent work has appeared in Snapdragon Journal of Art and Healing, Lucky Jefferson 365 Collection, Halfway Down the Stairs, POEM, Persimmon Tree and Bright Flash Literary Review. She is Poetry Editor for the quarterly magazine, The Pen Woman. Driver Side Window, her collection of flash stories, poems, memoir vignettes and interpretive photographs, debuted in October, 2022.