Lake Michigan Wind Conditions

The beach has the right wind conditions for flying kites, kite boarding,sailboarding, sailing and watching the sea gulls and terns sail by.  I could watch all day and sometimes I do.

And sometimes I make art inspired by the wind sports and birds on the wing.

And sometimes I write a poem about the Great Lakes.

Before the Storm

Seagulls slide sideways on airstreams,

whitecaps boil on deep marine blue.

Curdled clouds crown the horizon.

The house creaks.

Light shifts as ultramarine turns

gunmetal gray.

The air feels heavy, tense

then large drops spatter

stream down window panes.

Beach grasses grip the sodden sands.

The lake receives its prodigal freshwater

never asking where it has been.

After the storm, cold waves roll in slowly.

High above, a skull white moon:

below silent sturgeon move to

ancient rhythms.

Excerpted from Sophia's Lost and Found: Poems of Above and Below

available at Barnes & Noble and many other fine bookstores.