Poems

  • Residency Test at the Ore Dock

    Residency Test at the Ore Dock I no longer stop when the chutes shudder and lower. I don’t turn when I hear the pellets bang and race to the cargo … Read more

  • First Snow

    The first rays of sunlight shine through the treesand the autumn air blooms with the scentof fallen leaves and morning dew.I breathe in the crisp air and wonder,a droplet softly … Read more

  • Good Girl

    From 7-years-old, good girl, you were told,be good for the nanny, be good for your teachers…Being good was a choice—Good girl. Be a good girl—I’ll be right back, she says.She … Read more

  • For Reasons of the Heart

    Dance round the vice in silence. Prick your heartwith the broken record stylus, let itbleed out and boil, up to your chest, your brain. It’s slow, no thought to panic, … Read more

  • Abandonment

    It was your choice—all you wantedwas more, trading welfare for a point.All we wanted was to be loved. You’ll never see how hard we try. No one asks for a … Read more

  • Water: Keith Taylor

    Three Springs Up where forests have pushed back through fences, belief comes more easily, comes sometimes, for us, despite all our learning, even as it comes for that man we … Read more

  • Water: M. Bartley Seigel

    LAKE SUPERIOR Under my hand, a stone bear in nesting circles carved by ancestors, behind me, the walking woods at dusk, feather and fur, the little stone, moss, and mushroom … Read more

  • Water: Christopher Schmidt

    Christopher Schmidt is graphic designer and digital illustrator based in Houghton, Michigan. An avid cyclist and Nordic skier, he often draws inspiration for his work from the sights and scenes … Read more

  • Water: Margaret O’Donnell Noodin

    Aanakwadoon / Wind Water  Waabmiimii ge ogijise waasechiganaatigong bizhibaamiigwanetaad mikwam-inaanzoyan bikwagondang miinikaanensan oshkaabewisiwiyan mii miinawaa gikendaman ezhi-epogwag aanakwadoon. Rock dove as you land on the windowsill a splash of feathers the … Read more

  • Water: Michelle Menting

    This Cathedral          Isle Royale National Park, 2017 where the waves shush agates, where ungulates clip moss, where falcons smirk from lichen tendrils on lighthouse nests, where grebes skim the surface— … Read more

  • Water: Kimberly M. Blaeser

    Hydroreality: My List of Water Words Grows I have moved on from puddle, pond, creek, and wetland, from slough, swamp, marsh, brook, river. I add lagoon, loch. I swim stream, … Read more

  • Water: Brenda Austin

    Call of the drum By Brenda Austin (July 28, 2021) All across America, Indian nations big and small, are building ties that bind them, in answer to their brothers call. … Read more