The Inland Seas, A Poem

Chris has written poetry for 28 years though he focuses on short fiction. But watch out for the occasional twisted nursery rhyme.

Great Lakes Boat, The Rising Sun, Just Before She Went Down in the Manitou Passage

This poem is my response to Ann Carr's challenge. She based her challenge on a hub by Patricia Scott. Ann challenged us to write a poem or prose on one of four topics introduced by Patricia Scott. The four choices were as follows:

• "Around the Corners"
• "Over the Hills"
• "Go Beneath the Waves"
• "Through the Wind"

My poem focuses on , "Go Beneath the Waves". The poem is about a part of Lake Michigan that is seven miles from my home. The photos feature the wreck of the Great Lakes Boat called, The Rising Sun. I have snorkeled around this wreck and it was a sureal experience. I want to share a link for a hub I wrote about this particular Great Lakes shipwreck, https://owlcation.com/humanities/Rising-Sun-Story-of-a-Great-Lakes-Shipwreck.

The Inland Seas

Halfway between the equator’s band

And the pole at the northern extreme

In the hemisphere west

Fresh waters thrash

Against the shores of two great countries.

Glaciers crept across the northern steppes

Then retreated to whence they came.

Ice carved, then melted

And filled the basins

Which man learned to navigate.

At parallel forty-five lay two isles

offshore of the sand dune main.

Waves struck their crafts

and sent them alas

To the depths and dark cold graves.

Natives called the dunes, Sleeping Bear.

The islands were her lost cubs.

Between mother and babes

Was called by shipmates,

The infamous Manitou Passage.

The Rising Sun Immediately After Going Down

Ships that skirted the passage lost days

But the shortcut was riddled with shoals,

Boulders delivered

From the north by glaciers,

Lay in wait for passing boats' hulls.

Many have navigated the passage,

Others failed and made it their last.

Sixty-eight lie at rest

In Manitou,

Their stories lost to the past.

The Rising Sun Today (Video Used By Permission)

© 2020 Chris Mills