Snapshots from Lake Erie

I’ve been doing something unusual for me in my writing lately. It’s kind of half-journal, half poetry. I don’t claim to be a serious poet, it’s just another way for me to “lay track” for myself as a writer. It was fun to capture the moment with Sophia when we visited Lake Erie with my husband’s brother and his wife. This is the journal version before it gets edited for the poetry critique group I just joined!


The day we went to the beach
at Lake Erie
Jin-hui packed turkey sandwiches,
plump, dark purple cherries
and neon orange Cheetos.

We picnicked while Sophia
cried as though the sand
was an angry monster
ready to gobble her whole.

The waves were bigger than the ones I knew
from the cold North Sea of my childhood,
the surprise taste of fresh
instead of salt water on my tongue.
In the lake, I hold my daughter
tight against my chest and
unbearable possibilities.

But she flails and wails,
“I wanna do it
by my  Self!”
Reluctant, I let go
just enough to give equal parts
safety and
freedom.

Her small body
floats gently in my arms
and on the waves
as they roll under us
towards the future.


“Look, I’m swimming mama!”
Her head tilts towards the sun,
her laughter for a moment
drowning the sound of the sea.