“I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer,” wrote Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. As we embrace the season of refresh and reboot, here are seven pieces to inspire days of reading by the sea, or on the sofa. It’s summertime—let’s lean into it.
Chris Abani
Four Poems
A red sky and angels thick like palm trees.
Rick Bass
Fifteen Dogs
The heart of a dog is a powerhouse of an organ.
Ann Beattie
Fifteen Ways to Avoid Gardening
We’re supposed to think that the rake ran off with the trowel.
Justin Cronin
My Daughter and God
The Best American Essays 2015
The dunes, the ocean—all would be the same.
Romeo Oriogun
Someday the Desert Will Sing
On the day of equinox the camels walk slowly.
Bridget Quinn
At Swim, Two Girls
The Best American Sports Writing 2013
I stepped into the lake. It was cold, enlivening.
Austin Smith
Friday Night Fish Fry
This light especially loves children, farmers, lonely women.
Derek Walcott
Bleecker Street, Summer
It is a month of street accordions and sprinklers.
