Ode To the Mighty Great Lakes

Coast to Coast The sun ascends over the Great Lakes Settles back into the indigo depths Flight of a copper swan shore to shore With her sweeping wing tips skimming Commanding The azure locks of eternity to open Gather her iron-ore souls from the cliffs That lift along the turquoise bays Arise Our northern Holy Ghost. These drinkable oceans are graves to glaciers Tombs for freighters Limestone crypts Where condemned sailors still dance and drink A thousand clicks amidst the ancient glow Below Moon boulders like mobiles of suspended fish. It’s as if Michigan’s peninsulas Was its own sliding green continents Fitting together pieces of a new planet Waves bellow a dare to all the apocalyptic surfers Come sail these giant breaking swells. Though you’re a dipped hand Waving to outer space It’s your down-to-Earth bare cold caress That we count on for dousing the summer steam From our steely brow. Michiganians Plant your bare feet into the hot tops Of the Sand Dunes of Sleeping Bear Prepare an avalanche slide From the side of your hand A child pushing away the world’s troubles Throw out your hard chest Reveal your beautiful breasts Like the goddesses and gods that you are. Gaze out from these colossal pink shores To the horizon that bends like a violin Under the chin of a setting sun. Michiganians You are the everlasting Keepers Of the Mighty Mighty Great Lakes.