Poetry sharing among the Lake Cane community
November 2021 Poetry Winner
Frogman Nighttime 5k OPs
By Laura Cole
Frogman Nighttime 5k Ops
If you swim, you could be tops
Should you regard the feat amiss
The deepest dark liquid abyss
Water’s surface shimmering sheet
Know you not what lies beneath
But if you dare to take the challenge
‘Twixt faith and fear hold in the balance
When you emerge, what will you be?
Transformed into a frog maybe?
Some wretched form human or beast?
Or Salamander, the very least?
Come and swim it does entreat thee
But you fear, “It just may beat me!”
One thing is true, somehow you know…
This night, subdue your greatest foe!
October 2021 Poetry Submissions
In the Blink of an Eye, Gone!
By Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
We, the fish, would like a word. 1
We, the fish, ask you to knock it off. 1
liquid fertilizer release
toxic bloom torments the region
abnormal in size, strength, and severity
like a plague
Waters suffer a heart attack
massive fish kills
a first – animals, dead, on dry land
a stench hovers
human health compromised
Booming truths fall on deaf ears 2
Our Mother cannot fight back her tears
Florida get your act together
Stop arguing; work together
Problem solve; help us
The Mission: Waters everywhere
Swimmable. Fishable. Loveable. 3
Notes
1 https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2021/07/16/we-the-fish-of-st-petersburgs-red-tide-ask-you-to-knock-it-off/
2 https://link.biblegateway.com/view/5ef509c547a9ee30313dc81aetrfp.6to/3a46576e
3 https://lakecane.com
Frogman Nighttime 5k OPs
By Laura Cole
Frogman Nighttime 5k Ops
If you swim, you could be tops
Should you regard the feat amiss
The deepest dark liquid abyss
Water’s surface shimmering sheet
Know you not what lies beneath
But if you dare to take the challenge
‘Twixt faith and fear hold in the balance
When you emerge, what will you be?
Transformed into a frog maybe?
Some wretched form human or beast?
Or Salamander, the very least?
Come and swim it does entreat thee
But you fear, “It just may beat me!”
One thing is true, somehow you know…
This night, subdue your greatest foe!
I love sloppy swimmers
By Michael Zahn
I love sloppy swimmers,
the swimmers who wobble,
the bathers who bobble,
whose strokes are not smooth.
Undaunted by taunting,
some slap the water,
can’t kick like a clock,
some could lose weight,
some can’t swim straight,
some are just dreaming
of post-swim cake.
These are my people!
Imperfect bodies,
imperfect souls,
accepting the fact
they’ll never win gold.
But still they show up,
wobbles, bobbles and all,
compelled to respond
to the water’s call.
Glennie Halloween
By Gary Girolimon
Pumpkins glow with flickering light,
Open water turns as cold as fright.
A behemoth glides beneath the lake,
In bright moonlight you’ll see its wake;
When Glennie swims on Halloween night.
A Day at the Lake
By Cheryl Van Beek
Sunrise winks over the water, wakes turtles,
lulls frogs to sleep under leafy sunbrellas.
A Great Egret ripples overhead, lands at lake’s edge.
Its cane-shaped head and neck reflect on the surface —
a white cloud, melting like time in a Dali painting.
Water lilies filter and cleanse the lake,
sprout buds like castle spires.
Whiffs of clover sail the breeze.
A Baltimore Oriole’s whistle-call
mingles with laughter, picnic chatter.
Sunset spills a glass of Rosé into the lake.
The moon glimpses its face in the mirror.
Branches scatter shadows of velvet slumber.
Frogs begin to sing.
Life-giving Water
By Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
A whisper from stream’s rush
becomes booming, deeper truths,
shouted by a pounding surf
She never turned a deaf ear
to solar psalms and moon mantras:
In lack, excess;
in punishment, rewards;
in a threat (cancer), possibility.
The ocean holds the key to her survival;
sunlight dances on the promise of her future.
When the world forgets, she remembers-
The ocean is among the best medicines.
The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.1
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.2
She has both.
Notes
1 Isak Dinesen
2 W.H. Auden
I Want Lake Cane to Like Me
By Michael Zahn
I want Lake Cane lake to like me,
to share in my delight
to splash me back and tickle me
as we again unite.
The water never lies to me,
(its slap comes with a laugh)
I have to say its honesty’s
an aphrodisiac.
Its pulsing waves will take us
where no one else can go —
Kick and stroke and pant and hope —
we set the world aglow!
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