Loon Cry

The Watershed Center 2010

From the Introduction:

In 1918, my grandparents were invited by a colleague of my grandfather’s at the University of Missouri to visit them at the cottage they’d just bought in northern Michigan. It’s on a lovely, clear little lake, they said, with sandy beaches for the children. Near the end of that visit, my grandparents took a walk along the shore and came across a small white cottage for sale, $800. They closed the deal, long distance, over the winter. This was the year my father was born. My grandfather read a book on swimming and taught himself to swim, then taught the rest of the family as well as many neighbors. For years, there was an enclave of academicians on that side of the lake, all swimming properly.

Our lake is my own lifeblood. I learned to walk along its shores, I have been swimming in it every decent morning all my life. I want to spend eternity swimming breast stroke from our dock on down to the wider part of the lake on a slightly misty morning. The lake has saved my soul many times.

So, in gratefulness, I put this collection together, selecting from all the lake poems I’ve written over the years, and including some new ones. And since the water is so much a part of who I am, and since the Antrim County Chain of Lakes, which includes our lake, supplies over 60 percent of the surface water for Grand Traverse Bay, this book is my gift to the water. All proceeds from the sale of the book go directly to the Watershed Center, whose main mission is to protect Grand Traverse Bay and its entire 1,000- square-mile watershed. The steady and passionate advocacy of the Watershed Center makes a huge difference to this region and to all of the Great Lakes.