Edited and Introduced by Wesley McNair, Maine Poet Laureate
This week’s poem from a past column was chosen by Margaret S. Davenport, who writes: “In Rangeley, we love our loons, listening, picturing, and anxiously counting them.” The poem reminds her, she adds, that like the loons, “we also dive under, to catch that silver fish of an elusive dream.”
Listening for Loons
by Gary Lawlessi
wild roses down
to the water
one loon alone
northeast of the island
cedarscentii
water lily or
loon white
on the water both
bright
flowers flowers
on the surface of
this worldiii
like loons we dive under
dive under and
come up somewhere elseiv
every night now
i listen for loons
to hear their voices
to leave this body
to return to stars
Gary Lawless has several books to his credit, including Caribouddhism, Poems for the Wild Earth and Sitka Spring. He lives in Nobleboro and is the publisher of Blackberry Books.
Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Poem copyright © Gary Lawless. Reprinted from Listening for Loons, by permission of Gary Lawless.
Questions about Take Heart, which is no longer accepting submissions, may be directed to Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, special consultant to the Maine Poet Laureate, at mainepoetlaureate@gmail.com or 207-228-8263. Take Heart: Poems from Maine, an anthology collecting the first two years of this column, is now available from Down East Books.
