Thanks to all the wonderful folks who signed up for the first round of my postcard poetry project, the snail mail list is currently closed! You can still sign up to be on the email list, where I will send out updates from time to time about opportunities to receive tributes to Lake Michigan in the mail. 

If you did sign up for the project and haven't received your second postcard, you can expect to do so by the first week of July. Every person who is receiving a postcard in the mail gets a unique poem mailed to them on a particular day of the month. If you are at the beginning of the month, you have likely already received your second postcard. If you haven't gotten yours yet, keep an eye on the mailbox: it's coming! 

I plan to extend this project before its current end date of July 31, though I am not entirely sure how the extension will manifest. It will certainly involve more poetry and more Lake-centric imagery, possibly even with a call for some of your own submissions. Be sure to stay on the email list for information on all that is to come, and if you are interested in submitting some words or images of your own, send me an email! 

Thank you again for your support of this little endeavor. It is such a beautiful thing to know that there are fellow Lake-lovers all over the world who are connecting with the words I am writing on this shore. 

Letters to Lake Michigan is a project that has been churning in my mind for a while. It began a few years ago, when I noticed my tendency to personify this dear Lake in every piece of writing about her, in every conversation where I brought her up. I noticed it wasn't just me talking about this body of water in such a personal way. It seems most people who have interacted with Lake Michigan feel a deep connection to her. There is something magical about water, something healing. Something unifying. 

Growing up in Michigan, the Great Lakes have always been the bodies of water I go to to find comfort, and Lake Michigan has become the one that feels most like home. I have popped bottles of champagne on her shores, cried over heartbreak while dipping beneath her waves. After moving within walking distance to this Great Lake just over a year ago, I have also experienced a handful of normal, mundane days in her presence. 

I am doing my best to write every day, and what I have learned is that I keep coming back to place. Where I am. Where my heart is even when my body is not. Lake Michigan. Momma Lake. In an effort to further cultivate writings about this place, and to get over my fear of sharing that writing, I will be micro-publishing using an older form of communication: the postal service. Every day I will write a postcard poem and will mail it somewhere into the world.

My hope is that you will enjoy receiving a small moment of quiet in your day, disconnected from phones and screens, where you can witness the beauty of this sacred place on the front of the postcard, and read a small meditation from me. This Lake has instilled in me the importance of paying attention, and I hope to share that with you. 

If you are interested in receiving a postcard, sign up here. The first installment launches May 1, and will come with two postcards mailed to every participant at no charge. In June, I will open my shop with an option for you to subscribe to receive postcards monthly or for just a few months at a time, as well as some other fun products (including prints of Lake Michigan and zines of some of my favorite postcard poems), so be sure to continue checking back! 

Thank you for joining in on this journey. Sign up to begin receiving poems using the button below. I can't wait to share more of Lake Michigan's magic with you.