Christian summer camp
The mud bowl a series of relays
in wet dirt
left us coated in grime
We marched from the muddy mess to the lake
rinsing enough to be able to shower
All the girls’ swimsuits
hung on clotheslines
on our side of the camp
until after lunch
when we noticed some were missing
The boys had snatched a few as souvenirs
I promised revenge
on behalf of my sisters in Christ
who were missing their swimwear
During evening worship
I took a container of icy hot
to the boys’ bathrooms
to put on their toilets
I slept through it
but some girls said
they could hear the boys scream
I spent the next night
on a bench with Alex from Tucson
he told me there were some crazy girls at camp
I snuggled next to him
letting him nuzzle my neck
taking in the sweet smell of summer grass, pine, and
Cool Water cologne on this 16-year-old boy
I would probably never see again
_________________________________________________________
Wild Girl at Christian Camp
by CLS Sandoval, PhD
BIO- CLS Sandoval, PhD (she/her) is a pushcart nominated writer and communication professor with accolades in film, academia, and creative writing who speaks, signs, acts, publishes, sings, performs, writes, paints, teaches and rarely relaxes. She’s a flash fiction and poetry editor for Dark Onus Lit. She has presented over 50 times at communication conferences, published 15 academic articles, two academic books, three full-length literary collections, three chapbooks, as well as flash and poetry pieces in several literary journals, recently including Opiate Magazine, The Journal of Magical Wonder, and A Moon of One’s Own. She is raising her daughter and dog with her husband in Alhambra, CA.
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