By Gary Baney     Sean pounded the three-foot metal stakes into the sand. The triple flute design was meant to stay in place under...

A Lake A beautiful lake -- an unfinished plate of soup made from the sky and finely cut pickled cucumbers of the reflected trees. And a...

By Sofia Huebner   Wave after wave crashed upon the beach, frothing at the mouth, spitting salt and foam, teasing my eager eyes. A sound...

Sometimes someone's phone call is Sisyphus of my barren times. This, my thought may not be like that of the “What’s in a name circa” when...

Intro This excerpt is based on my biography of George Freeth which came out with the University of Illinois Press in 2022: Surf and...

[KELP JOURNAL] The one thing I always love to ask photographers is what makes you take a photo? What do you see that makes you press the...

Scientific Value of the Subtle Cuttle Obviously, cuttlefish dream since they are made out of colors and are the shape of sound. What we...

Becomings of a sea A girl broke the soil and turned into sea how, each had the same question like feelings of hunger by empty tummies...

By Liz Lydic Coming from Michigan, Janis thought she knew the beach. On the evening before her flight, while chatting on the phone, she...

Catastrophic Molt —For elephant seals when the top layer of fur and skin molts, it leaves them unable to swim or feed for a month....

By Sherri Harvey The whippoorwill is so named for its call—three whistled notes that sound like “whip-poor-will.” It could repeat this...

Begin Again begin with the ocean the wet sand hard underfoot the waves seeping in soft foam sticking to ankles as the water pulls us soak...

by Lisa Loop I spent my morning behind a 1978 Chevy truck on the 134 east. These days, when I see one of these old trucks, I want to...

by Maria Duarte In Adieu: A Memoir of Holocaust Survivor Alfred J. Lakritz takes the reader through his and his family’s journey of...

Brown Pelicans Huntington Beach Wetlands They hover outside the sanctuary, Between sand and sea— Prayers when flying or floating, Moving...

by Betty-Jo Tilley Alex Espinoza’s The Sons of El Rey is an epic family drama set amid the theatrical, sensational world of lucha libre....

by Brenna Humphreys But, oh, the afterlife. How it teases and haunts, how it bleeds into this life. —Betsy Sholl, “Concerning the Soul”...

by Sean Stiny The gin-clear runoff from abundant winter snow meanders down spontaneous falls. The rum-colored Rio Grande holds sway...

by Michael Scott Moore 1991 I can tell you how come we don’t ride to school with Schuyler and them in the morning anymore, but you have...

by Betty Jo Tilley If you’re hearing about Nicholas Belardes for the first time right here in the safe pages of Kelp, once you’ve read...