Sault Ste. Marie

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Sault Ste. Marie

Too often you see yourself and wonder
which bodies ancestors navigated

to gather such glorious scars and wrinkles
in one place, both noticeable and unseen,

little waves in a great lake of flesh.
The mirror is not unkind, you think,

with proper lighting — in candlelight
or late evening’s peppery glow,

after a few drinks. Then you recall
crossing the equator three decades

past, how the deck’s non-skid surface
scratched your knees as you scrubbed

the twists and currents that’d buffeted
you to that imagined line on the globe,

and later, the following points and clock
faces withering down the long queue

of jobs, the spilled beer and incomplete life
sentences. Even now, Superior washes

through its locks, filling, denying, allowing
one’s depths into another’s space with equal

regard, promoting passage, flooding past with
future, present with then, balancing tomorrow, now.

“Sault Ste. Marie” won LCk Publishing’s Spring Poetry Contest in April 2017.

46 thoughts on “Sault Ste. Marie”

  3. This captures the fatigue of the grind for me: and later, the following points and clock
faces withering down the long queue
    of jobs, the spilled beer and incomplete life
sentences. Even now, Superior washes
    So good. Congrats on winning the contest.

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. A beautiful perspective on time and aging, and also on the equanimity of the ageless. I lived near Superior for 9 years, so that last image feels particularly resonant for me — though I can certainly relate to the rest. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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  16. Congratulations Robert, a thoroughly deserved award, for an extremely great poem. I shall celebrate for you tonight, with two glasses of Hanwood Tawny Port, one for me, and one for you, hmmm, they’re reasonably big glasses !!

    Liked by 1 person

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