swifts  &  s l o w s · a quarterly of crisscrossings

Back Then
 Rochelle Jewel Shapiro & Christine Sloan Stoddard

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BACK THEN

Back then I was sure each grain of sand was a diamond like
the chip in my mother’s ring that glittered with heat. Quick,
quick, we ran barefoot over the hot sand to reach the cool, dark
swath by the lapping shore.

Back then, we did not see oil tankers
as we filled our tin pails with tin shovels that tink, tinked.
Gulls, watchful on the jetty, had no nooses of plastic
around their necks from a tossed six-pack.

Back then the tide brought gifts of driftwood, popping
kelp, shells, broken, but some, if you looked hard,
had life inside. And the beach stretched for what seemed

a mile.

Now the tide is awash with medical waste, Glad bags,
Styrofoam cups, one still with a lipstick stain,
as if someone kissed her garbage goodbye.

Poem by Rochelle Jewel Shapiro. Photograph by Christine Stoddard.

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Christine Stoddard is a Salvadoran-American writer and multi-hyphenate artist creating books, films, plays, and more. She founded Quail Bell Press & Productions, including Quail Bell Magazine. She directed the feature film Sirena’s Gallery and authored the books Heaven is a Photograph, Naomi & The Reckoning, Desert Fox by the Sea, and Water for the Cactus Woman, among others. Her work has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Ms. Magazine, The Huffington Post, the Portland Review, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, The Feminist Wire, and beyond.  Christine’s website →

Rochelle Jewel Shapiro is the author of Miriam the Medium (Simon & Schuster). Her essays have appeared in the NYT (Lives), Newsweek, and more. Entropy, Her poems have been nominated twice for Pushcart Prizes and once for The Best of the Net. Currently, she teaches writing at UCLA Extension. Rochelle’s website →