praise dawn on the causeway
a rusty coyote splashing through
rounding the corner, antelope island opens to view
praise the startling vista
praise distant calm from the highway
praise space for bison to thrive
praise wild desolation so close to home
praise ancient world in present day
praise winter ski trips with friends
praise salty foam whipping up at rozel point
praise ten thousand avocets with rusty heads
praise imagination, praise billions of brine shrimp
praise tornadoes of midges
praise hopper salt crystals
plucked from lake bed like so many teeth
praise floating between sky and sky
praise her salty kiss burning like fire on the horizon
appalled by flies, enthralled by sunset
grassy slopes grace us, riding alongside
praise the midnight bicycle ride
praise the color explosion at days end
white foam, watery pastiche, changing blues,
depending on where you stand
praise orange, in sky and on water
praise the days when the water is its pinkest
salt crystals sparkle at a pale blue sky
praise sage green with deep maroon
silhouettes against gradient colors
the site of gulls without an ocean,
in the desert fighting for fries
we will miss the funky smell
praise slow, salty undulations
we will miss the feel of salt
no lake, no lake effect snow,
no snow, no winters, no water
praise hollowing waves of sorrow
praise feeling weight in damp smash
praise the place out past the railroad
the place that saved us in 2020
where the water is sometimes pink
praise ripples, praise stillness
praise kit carson’s cross
praise moments spent lost
praise sun on salt, praise sky
praise eared grebes
with golden feathers
and scarlet eyes
praise eared grebes!
praise the flight of the migratory
praise rest for birds and earth
praise a solitary mammoth tooth
caught between time and depth
praise children marveling at brine shrimp
praise bringing a friend for a first visit
praise people swimming
praise the job of a lake girl
praise the drive to the jetty
the jetty, so pink we can’t believe it
knee deep in the waters of the spiral,
praise the illuminated salty sculpture
how would it be for the spiral
to slip under the waves
and sleep again?
praise layers of time
praise a picnic with two ninety year-old women
no-see-ums defending the beaches
swirled clouds mimic water ripples
praise contemplating stars from buffalo point
praise sunsets overlooking saltair,
more impressive than the show inside
praise floating on a summer day in ’72,
feeling like a pretzel after drying
praise learning and teaching a unique ecosystem
kids laugh when we tell them the water will sting their eyes
feeling the planet’s pulse
forms and cures loneliness
praise home, the home we are made of—
praise reflections of mackerel sky
vast expanses, mirror-smooth
alone and connected at the same time
praise the great blue heron
taking off and flying through reeds
praise capturing the amber eye of an egret
through a cloud of thousands of gnats
praise the panoramic view from frary peak
praise joy on the shores of stansbury
praise gazing at the intense blue
golden grasses blowing in symphony
praise the texture of pickle grass
praise the smell of rainfall, stinky, fresh
praise briny socks and briny smiles
praise senses scrubbed raw
praise visiting the lake with my mother
memorias com o meu pai
the ever mutable backdrop of childhood
visit even when you are afraid
bear witness even when you are afraid
how can water be so heavy?
the lake, our sister, lives in our bodies,
carries our weight.
Lines gathered from 80 individual attendees at the Alfred Lambourne program presented by Friends of Great Salt Lake on November 5th, 2021