Summers at Ocean Beach

We’d take the ferry back and forth
Our families then would meet
Off the sandy shores of Fire Island
A white house on Ocean Beach

No TV sets to pass the time
No iPhones back then to take
We leave work and school behind
One month for summer break

A chess board game at the table
We’d play cards and drink iced tea
Walk the boardwalk into town
Or lay out on the beach

Some nights around the fireplace
After dinner making s’mores
We take turns telling ghost stories
Each one scarier than before

A ferry ride away we take
And plan and ride and meet
One month in the summer
On Fire Island in Ocean Beach

Melissa Kelly is a poet and Short Story writer from Long Island, NY. You can see some of her work in WestWard Quarterly Magazine, Plum Tree Tavern, Soft Cartel, Amethyst Review, Hedge Apple and Anti-Heroin Chic.