This fall I worked on a collaborative art piece with the talented watercolor artist Alexa Grambush. Alexa splits her time between Traverse City and Malibu and water finds its way into much of her work. I loved creating this piece with her, featuring a watercolor print from her series “Our Mother Lake”. The 8x10 print is of her painting entitled “Your Baptismal Waters”, and my poem “Tideless Lake” is letterpress printed onto the page. It is available for purchase in my online shop. Printing done by Freshly Squeezed Print Shop out of Grand Rapids.

Tideless Lake

You move as though the moon
pulls you, but its sway is nominal
when compared to the wind,
the atmospheric pressure,
the will of your waves
to creep up the shore
and caress the dunes,

reminding me I do not need
a moon to move.

I was honored to have some poems featured in the publication “Looking Deeply at Small Things,” created by my friend Katie. The issue’s theme was the Winter Solstice, and I wrote a poem inspired by the seasonal shift.

Midwinter
The sun stands still
as the world holds its breath,
anticipating longer days.

Snow dusts the shoreline
and gleams like diamonds,
just before the light dips

below the Lake. Waves churn
in the longest night, a song to remind
us time still moves forward.

Morning is coming and with it––
light. Day will soon again
overtake the night.

New Year
The new year rolls in
like the waves––distinct
from the rest, still water
nonetheless.

A moment of energy untamed,
dissolving again to the water before,
merging itself to the waves
that come next.

I watch the swell,
the unknown heaving itself
into a frenzy, followed by
a quiet breath.

A lull in the movement
followed by a force
so strong it could knock
me over.

All of it
is You.

All of these waves
surge one after another,
rolling together––one body
of water.

All of these years
surge one after another
rolling together––
a life.