Hamlin Lake, Michigan, 1940sby Joan Colby A smell of damp, of mildewPermeated the cottage, lakeside,Built of simple unfinished planks,Nothing polished or complicated,Floorboards, thin wallsSo every conversation could be overheard. A red pump by the chipped sinkThat groaned to expel tinged water.A woodstove my mother cursedAs we stood dripping from our lake bathsHolding bars of Ivory,Continue reading “Hamlin Lake, Michigan, 1940s by Joan Colby”
Category Archives: lakes
Art Fair by Jeannie E. Roberts
Art Fair by Jeannie E. Roberts —near the shores of Lake Pepin Down Great River Road past the family cottage and clear-cut memories of lighthearted days a train whistle blasts and Saturday shines as only the third Saturday in July can. At Stockholm’s Village Park artists / musicians / and fair-goers merge fuse with theContinue reading “Art Fair by Jeannie E. Roberts”
The Dawning by Jeannie E. Roberts
The Dawning by Jeannie E. Roberts Just beyond the six-panel dock daybreak resonates with electricity. Hydropower enlivens the rising light. There’s a fine mist on Lake Wissota and the dam answers with firefly-like glow. I awoke for this moment when the heavens attend to washes of color balance in blends of orange / apricot amberContinue reading “The Dawning by Jeannie E. Roberts”
Rain by Frances Shaw
Rain by Frances Shaw When in the night the storm rises, I will run before it To the long shore, And there await the arms Slanting toward me— The strong gray arms of the rain. And I will lean on them, And be enchanted, And whispered to By the soft insistent voice Of the rain.Continue reading “Rain by Frances Shaw”
The Shoe Tree by Mary Langer Thompson
The Shoe Treeby Mary Langer ThompsonFor Paula I don’t think I’ll ever seethis tree full of shoes again,but I have a photographshe sent, branches laden with tied-togethersneakers—maybe one pair was hers,and she slipped awayfrom that rented room in the mountainsto add to it—that would be like her—secretly flinging a pair of good shoesup into theContinue reading “The Shoe Tree by Mary Langer Thompson”
Along Lake Michigan by Brad Leithauser
Along Lake Michiganby Brad Leithauser The road abruptly changed to dirt,Thinned until grasses brushedThe car on both sides, and thenEnded in a loop before the marsh.We hiked along an arm of land heldFirm by cedars, the lake breakingLike an ocean on one side,The rippling, flooded wetlands wideAs a lake on the other.You found a broadContinue reading “Along Lake Michigan by Brad Leithauser”
POETRY and PLACES 