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.
O at the Edges 
Wonderful, Bob, and an evocative reminder of my time along Superior’s shores. I cannot help but admire the care you took in punctuating that last line. Perfect.
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I’ve driven through the area, but have never spent time there. Maybe someday…
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Hooray! A Canada reference… or at least a US/Canada reference.
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It’s been a long time since I’ve been there. Maybe someday…
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Why go there when Toronto is just down the road a day’s drive? Hooray, Toronto!
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Ah, one of my favorite cities! I could go for that.
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scars and wrinkles
noticeable and unseen,
not unkind, you think
late evening’s peppery glow
three decades
you scrubbed
imagined line on the globe
incomplete life
Superior washes
denying, allowing
space with equal
flooding past
with
balancing tomorrow, now.
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An interesting revision!
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