Lake Superior in Autumn
Inspired by images of boats on water, untitled, by Jay Steinke
An equinox calm, a still-life in water and silver.
Boats sit as if suspended in milk. The lake is quiet.
No ripples, no movement. The sky, the lake, the air,
all white, all the same. Through the white scrim,
they appear, disappear. You can’t be certain
how many there are. Sailboats on a liquid tack,
a luffing sail, frozen in the foreground. Ore carriers
anchored further out are shrouded in . . .
. . . limpid images float out of focus. Five? Six?
Specks on a blank canvas, dotted images
in a milky setting, ships anchored in a cloud.
This poem is from the book The Seasons by Gregory Opstad (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/the-seasons-by-gregory-opstad/
The Seasons is a love-letter to the Minnesota north woods. From boyhood memories to a mid-winter blizzard, this collection is hybrid of short stories and poems, generations of explorations of a life before cell phones, living without electricity and relying on kerosene lanterns, children playing on a shore, unaware of dangers around them, and an old man who lived through it all. The beauty of this place is shown through loving images of bears, trees, berries, and ships anchored in a cloud.
Gregory Opstad is a retired teacher with homes in Cloquet, Minnesota and Cochiti Lake, New Mexico. He is a member of Lake Superior Writers. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies. He is the author of two chapbooks. His short story, Wintering, won Honorable Mention in the Lake Superior Writers 2022 Short Fiction Contest. He is included in Bringing Joy, winner of the 2022 Best Written Community Creative Work in the State of Minnesota, Minnesota Author Project Award.
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