LAKE ERIE

On my walk, making way to Lake Erie
as it reaches out in front of me, proving
a task, bits of debris cling along the shore
a brick, driftwood, a tangled fishline coerced
I keep walking catching my breath as i go
till the harsh lake winds whip in a frenzy
trying to attack me from all sides, so i
look down trying to prevent  any further
wind burn lashing my face, and ahead
i see strings of brackish foam coming
in with the tide, behaving like a rabid dog
still ahead of me further up the body of some dis-
emboweled creature lands at my feet-which i am
unable to no longer identify with any certainty

by Michael Perry