Before Winter

“Dream House” - Ann Calandro

The rock in the bay by our home
looked like an ancient ankylosaur.
Its back bowed against the waves.
We called it Bastion,
steady through every season.

That morning she said her legs hurt again.
Nothing a long swim can’t fix, I joked,
stirring black coffee,
sipping leftover lobster bisque.
The bowl in her hand vanished into the beige light.
Red sky in morn, I said,
and she smiled, pensive,
the sun catching her face in a sepia frame.
Still time.

We stretched together, bent slow,
pulled on black suits and caps.
In the hallway mirror she laughed.
She said we looked like old cormorants
ready for one last flight before winter.

We made it halfway to the rock.

She held my shoulders, and I kicked for us both.
I counted her breaths.
I mouthed a prayer to the water.

We drifted on our backs where the bay forgets its depth.
Two black shapes stitched to the water.

About the Author

Patrick G. Roland is a writer and educator living with cystic fibrosis. His work has been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize as well as for Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction. His writing appears in Rattle, South Florida Poetry Journal, HAD, Sky Island, A-minor, and elsewhere. He lives near Pittsburgh with his wife and children.

About the Artist

Ann Calandro is a writer, artist, and classical piano student. She received a 2026 Individual Artist Finalist Award (prose category) from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Serving House Books published her short story collection in 2025 and her poetry collection in 2026. Her artwork has appeared in the 2023 NJ Arts Annual, juried museum and gallery shows, and literary journals as cover and interior artwork. Shanti Arts Press published three children’s books she wrote and illustrated. See artwork at ann-calandro.pixels.com.