4th Place: Kaja Andric

Senior, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Ocean

No one wanted to give us a ride to the beach
so we hitched a walk there. It is early June ––
it is hot under the bridge, under our knees,
even in the crevice of our chins and necks
–– and we are walking to our least favorite
beach cause it has no surfer side. Crowds
swamp Palm Beach & they don’t let us bring
our boards. We swim cause there’s no UV
index to tan, the storm rolling in at 30 minutes
from now. The water is cold & it is the time of
year the seawood starts to rot on the shorelines.
We always carry the stench home. The water
has the slightest chop so we can surf to the
shore. We are Florida kids enough to do it
without boards, hands in front, feet kicking,
knees bent into our gut & then straight out,
water pouring across our ribcage, tossing
us out when the wave crashes. Here we always
choke on the water, at the crest of the wave,
bile turned sour in the back of our throats as
we walk home in the rain.