I Pledge Allegiance to the Lake (poem)

photo from the boat,
minutes before sunrise

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Linda at TeacherDance for Roundup, where she is featuring the cover reveal of DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A to Z written by myself and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini, coming Feb. 4, 2020 from Carolrhoda Books. We are so excited to see the book making its way into the world!

And now for today's poetic offering. A few weeks ago I shared about the book INK KNOWS NO BORDERS and suggested it might be a meaningful identity experience to write a "pledge of allegiance" poem after the last poem in that anthology, "self-portrait with no flag" by Safia Elhillo. Here's what I came up with:

I Pledge Allegiance to the Lake

To its still, green-hush mornings,

its goldburst afternoons.

To its abundant skies lifting geese,

eagles, herons, and iridescent

ballets of dragonflies;

its reliable shores of pebbles, sway-grass

and sunwashed turtles;

its friendly crappie, bass, and bream.

I pledge allegiance to the lake's splash
and hum, its ever-changing face:
sometimes dimpled, sometimes soft as sand.

To its laplap July lullaby,

its keen January whistle.

How eagerly it climbs! How quietly it recedes.

And for the breezy peace it brings,

the secrets it swallows,

the boats it kisses and skin it bathes –

to the beauty for which it stands:

one small body of water

tucked in the tail of the Appalachians,

with freedom, reflection

and refreshment for all.

- Irene Latham

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