Lee Street Beach
Sun rises over Lake Michigan,
ignites a liquid field of sparklers
through which a silhouette
of a woman skims
the rippled surface, her muscled
strokes point to the shore
lined with mussel shells. Algae
bundles tangled green
smell of wet nets. Wind whips
a basso from towering oak
and pine that watch like lifeguards,
leaning toward the sun.
Christie Chandler Stahl is an emerging poet, former librarian, teacher and college instructor. She has published in Midsummer Dream House and an anthology. She visits Lake Michigan almost daily, and lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband John.