When Lake Erie Freezes

Lake Erie--Frozen Solid

the awesome sight--huge
pressure domes of ice
heaved into ridges
chaotic frozen waves
far as the eye can see

wondrous powerful lake

I could walk to Canada
if I had the imagination

I love Lake Erie in all seasons, in all its moods. This has been true from my earliest childhood in Willoughby-on-the-Lake, when my dad and my Uncle Jack would take us swimming down the street from our house. The above poem, written long ago, began with images of the Lake. But as poems sometimes do, it moved in an unexpected direction and became a poem about the power of imagination; it became a poem about creativity, about the writing of poetry.

Below: some photos from 2003, taken at Fairport Harbor, Ohio.

Me on the frozen lake. Fairport Harbor.

Carolan. Fairport Harbor, looking east.

A strange swirl of fish caught in the ice. Fairport Harbor.

Two Haiku for the Coming of Autumn

Summer's End--Haiku

This wild lake whipping
Waves into a foamy froth--

Fall descends on Cleveland.


October on Lake Erie--Haiku

Wind roils the wild lake
Gales blow from the west to east--

My soul is swept clean.

[Haiku often have three lines with syllable counts of 5-7-5 approximately. They usually present vivid sense images and a seasonal word or phrase. Often the poem is cut into 2 parts, a kind of juxtaposition. Sometimes at the end there is a sudden insight or epiphany. Haiku are really fun to write.]