Best Lakes Poems
You taste as if twilight were—
lavender swirling like smoke from the earth
licorice lingering with the full moon’s soft pull
a sweetness both dark and divine.
Your skin sparkles with starlight
electric and soft as moth wings.
We sip the pink sky
lemonade lakes cascade through our fingers
time unspools between our hands
while the past drinks from our open palms.
The air crackles with floating florets
each breath a promise, unspoken but heard.
If love were a color it'd be you—
violet and velvet
honey and slow-mountain dew
the universe holds its breath;
galaxies halt their ancient waltz
as they struggle to name us.
And if forever had a flavor
it would stain my tongue—
sweet, dark, endless—
a love so vast
even creation forgets what came before it.
We are the first poem ever written
and the last song left unsung
our love the verse that never fades—
Just like lavender licorice and lemonade lakes.
In spring lakes, my eyes
Reflect back my purest self
Water remembers
Take Me There
Take me to the place where it’s broadly known
In meadows and woods famous poets roamed
Where hosts of blithe yellow daffodils dance
In expectation of budding romance.
To view magnificent mountains and lakes
And spectacular countryside landscapes
In hopefulness that it all will inspire
My muse to explode alike a drumfire.
The Lake District I will visit one day
There’s so much to view and do on a stay
Such serenity and astounding grace
Is found in Cumbria’s stunning showplace.
*+*+*
9th January 2023
Take Me There Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Margarita Lillico
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.
These lakes are scratches
gouged by glaciers
from rocks new
when life began.
Life is hard here
soil thin, fire common
yet Thompson's West Wind
is but a paddle ahead.
Blood flows thickly
o’er flesh
to knit a healing scab
leaving just a faint scar.
Stir not
these calm waters
nor linger
o’er faint lines.
Paddle lightly
to the sunset
sending ripples
to the dawn.
May 19, 2014 - The Perfect Painting
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The Iroquois, the Ottawa, the Potawatomi, the Crow,
The Lakota, the Chippewa; all dwelt by their shores
And in their deep forests, but are there no more.
Yet the Lakes remain; their waters abide.
Clear and quiet they lie on calm summer days,
But send ships to their bottoms when gales roar in their skies.
The abyss of Superior, so cold and so dark,
Holds tight to its secrets the Ojibway said,
And the waters of Superior never gives up its dead.
The waters of Michigan, not so cold nor so deep,
Yet, like Superior, its secrets they keep.
The waters of Huron I see in a dream
Flowing over the ghosts of primordial streams,
Past islands and trees, always south towards the sea.
Receiving their waters, Erie, with skies luminescent,
Sends them on crashing over the Escarpment.
Then on through Ontario and the Saint Lawrence,
Passing Quebec, passing great forests,
They reach their goal, the wide gray Atlantic.
Like great Superior,
My secrets lie deep, my secrets lie cold.
They lie in an abyss and will never be told.
But there come to me times when I want just to go
To that vast Ocean wide;
To flow into the deep and there forever abide.
A summer whisper –
A thousand lakes reflecting
A world upside down
Clear lakes and forests:
I admired the view and then
Continued Skiing.
...early Spring walk around 3.2mi. Lake Calhoun...so named after controversial industrialist sotten with checkered past...movement underway to return name to Native American Dakota "Bde Maka Ska" White Earth Lake.
Purple Finches trill their soothing song
to people walking around Lake Bde Maka Ska,
a deep glacial lake in the heart of Minneapolis.
A lone Eagle cruises above, easily snatching
spawning Carp from the shallows, gracefully
cruising away, talons firmly clutching the
writhing Carp.
I enjoy watching families enjoying their first
walk around the lake, infants in strollers taking in their first inhalations of sights, sounds and
smells after winter isolation.
Young people wander wide-eyed, wondering
how the world sees them, as they establish
identity through dress, movement & interaction
with others...subtle changes will occur as the
summer evolves...reacting or not, to perceived
reflection.
Most of all, I enjoy my own movement,
evaluating subtle changes I notice in myself,
returning to the park bench by the path where
I comfortably situated my 87yr. old Mom,
grateful to have the opportunity to once more
enjoy our city of lakes, wondering how many
more such gifts she will enjoy,
Grateful
for
the
moment
5/7/17
Pellucid pearls in northeastern North America
since planetary birth
Comprise Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron,
Erie, and Ontario dearth
Largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth
Straddle Canadian–United States border
tethering partial global girth
Constituting 21% of world's surface
fresh water species hearth
Total surface equals 94,250 square miles
And total volume equals
5,439 cubic miles immeasurable worth.
Lake Erie from Erie tribe, abridged form
of Iroquoian word erielhonan “long tail”
Lake Huron named by French explorers
for Wyandot or “Hurons” whence they did sail
Lake Michigan likely from Ojibwa word mishigami
“great water” aka outsize gold quail
Lake Ontario i.e. “Lake of Shining Waters”
shimmering like hammered coat of mail
Lake Superior coined from French
“lac supérieur” "upper lake", an emerald watery dale
Ojibwe people called it gitchigumi medicinal
to cure that, which might ail.
These five lakes each reside in separate basin
Form a single, naturally interconnected body
of fresh water caisson
Linking east-central interior of North America
to Atlantic Ocean akin to an escutcheon.
From interior to outlet at St. Lawrence River,
Water flows via Superior to Michigan-Huron
southward to Erie to avoid a shiver
Finally released northward to Lake Ontario
as like a well taut archer with his quiver.
The lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers
as an Olympic team
Populated with approximately 35,000 islands
this estimate not x stream.
The Great Lakes region contains
many thousands of smaller lakes,
Often called inland lakes undulating
in cascading analogous to a fluid ream
Lake Michigan the only one located
entirely within United States
While the others border between
United States and Canada – essentially a liquid seam.
Walkers gather throughout the year
In Keswick, Ambleside and Grasmere
They come to walk the fells
No matter the weather wet or clear
They travel from near and far
To follow the maps of Mr Wainwright
Who walked these same fells in the past
And left a memorial to follow aright
They are many to choose from
Helvelyn, Helm Crag, Catbells and Skiddaw
That’s just a few from the many
You have all kinds in which to draw
Be prepared for all eventualities
Good boots waterproofs ect. are a must
So are water to drink and food to eat
Then looking upwards in prayerful trust
They also are captured on film
Featuring Julia Bradbury on DVD
To follow the steps of dear AW
Giving hope and inspiration for you and me
poetgord
Lakes Michigan and Huron are basically a single lake,
Sometimes called Lake Michigan-Huron, combined doth make
Total area of 45,300 square miles (117,000 km2)
Have the same surface elevation of 577 feet (176 m),
Connected by 295-foot deep
dire Straits of Mackinac Islands splayed like a rake.
Approximately 35,000 islands extant
throughout oceanic like sea
largest among them is Manitoulin Island
in Lake Huron perhaps,
The largest island in any inland body
of water in the world.
The second-largest island is Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
Both of these islands are large enough to contain
multiple lakes themselves — Manitoulin Island's
Lake Manitou is listed in the Guinness Book
of World Records as the world's largest lake
located on a freshwater island.
Connection to the ocean:
The Saint Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway
connect the Great Lakes to ocean-going vessels.
The move to wider ocean-going container ships —
which do not fit through the locks on these routes —
has limited container shipping on the lakes.
Most Great Lakes trade is of bulk material
and bulk freighters of Seawaymax-size or less
can move throughout the entire lakes and out
to the Atlantic. The Great Lakes are also connected
to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois River
(from the Chicago River) and the Mississippi River.
An alternate track is via Illinois River (from
Chicago), to Mississippi, up the Ohio, and then
through the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
(combination of a series of rivers and lakes
and canals), to Mobile Bay and the Gulf.
Commercial tug-and-barge traffic on these waterways is heavy.
Pleasure boats can also enter or exit Great Lakes
by way of the Erie Canal and Hudson River in New York.
The Erie Canal connects to Great Lakes at
east end of Lake Erie (at Buffalo, New York) and
south side of Lake Ontario (at Oswego, New York).
Statistics:
The Great Lakes contain 21% of the world’s fresh surface water:
5,472 cubic miles (22,810 km3), or 6.0×1015 U.S.
gallons (2.3×1016 liters). This is enough water
to cover the 48 contiguous U.S. states to a uniform depth
of 9.5 feet (2.9 m).
Although the lakes contain
a large percentage of world's fresh water,
the Great Lakes supply only a small portion of
U.S. drinking water on a national basis (roughly 4.2%).
Winter 2009–10 was somewhat mild, the precipitation
was below normal for Great Lakes Basin.
Mean lake levels are thought to be slightly below or
at their levels of 2009. An ice jam in February 2010
dropped the level in Lake St. Clair. Since jelly roll more 'in jam
was removed the level has come back to its average.
As of March 2010, the lakes were at the level, or slightly
below, where they were in March 2009.
The combined surface area of the lakes is approximately
94,250 square miles (244,100 km2)—nearly
the same size as the United Kingdom, and larger
than U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New
Hampshire combined.The Great Lakes coast measures
approximately 10,500 miles (16,900 km);
however, the length of a coastline is impossible to measure
exactly and is not a well-defined.
I awakened to giant egrets
dancing while brilliant hawks
bluster over head while
thousands of white herons
nest by night flying out
every morning arriving
within the Caribbean
by noon only to return
just in time for dinner
cardinals perch low singing
lovely hymns to the baby eagles
just out of reach the blue jays
gather among the wood peckers
as the humming birds flutter
feasting on sweet nectar
the tall cypress trees sway
embracing the glorious sky
igniting one hundred butterflies
while the sun peeks in between
the wandering clouds above the lakes
Written by Mrs Yolanda Joy Nicholsen
4-5-2022
3:24 am
An alternate track is via the Illinois River
(from Chicago), to the Mississippi, up the Ohio,
and then through the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
(combination of a series of rivers and lakes and canals),
to Mobile Bay and the Gulf. Commercial
tug-and-barge traffic on these waterways is heavy.
Pleasure boats can also enter or exit the Great Lakes
by way of the Erie Canal and Hudson River in New York.
The Erie Canal connects to the Great Lakes
at the east end of Lake Erie (at Buffalo, New York)
and at the south side of Lake Ontario (at Oswego, New York).
Statistics:
The Great Lakes contain 21%
of the world’s fresh surface water: 5,472 cubic miles
(22,810 km3), or 6.0×1015 U.S. gallons (2.3×1016 liters).
This is enough water to cover the 48 contiguous U.S. states
to a uniform depth of 9.5 feet (2.9 m).
Although the lakes contain a large percentage
of the world's fresh water, the Great Lakes supply
only a small portion of U.S. drinking water
on a national basis (roughly 4.2%).
Winter 2009–10 somewhat mild, the precipitation
was below normal for the Great Lakes Basin.
Mean lake levels are thought to be slightly
below or at their levels of 2009.
An ice jam in February 2010 dropped
the level in Lake St. Clair. Since the jam
was removed the level has come back
to its average.
As of March 2010, the lakes were at the level,
or slightly below, where they were in March 2009.
The combined surface area of the lakes
is approximately 94,250 square miles
(244,100 km2)—nearly the same size
as the United Kingdom, and larger than
the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts,
Vermont, and New Hampshire combined.
The Great Lakes coast measures approximately
10,500 miles (16,900 km); however,
the length of a coastline is impossible
to measure exactly and is not
well-defined measure (see Coastline paradox).