Northland College Poetry Installation – Week 1

A group of students from Northland College in Ashland, WI spent a few days here at Rock Island Lodge last week. Aside from some paddling and hiking, the students wrote some fantastic poetry about the lake. Each followed a loose format where a few lines had to begin with certain words:

The lake is…

My strength comes…

I am connected…

I am connected…

My strength comes…

The lake is…

After that, the rest was up to each individual student! Some amazing stuff was created and we’ve decided to post one each week (or so)! Here’s the first one by Madison Carlson. Thanks, Northland!

The lake is grey,

Caught between misty hills,

And under leaden sky.

Rain falls.

And I wonder,

Is it that rain goes with poetry,

Or that poetry goes with rain?

Perhaps rain is poetry,

Tiny drops that make up a great water.

My strengths come from this water.

For we are water.

It rises in us to the beat of the tides.

Can you hear it?

I am connected to the spirits of the past.

Their hearts beat too,

On this lake,

To this rhythm.

The stars look down and wonder,

What is man,

This tiny crawling thing,

That he should claim the whole Earth as his own?

I am connected to those who will come after,

Children of the space age.

We have seen the stars so close,

But we cannot see them from our own doorsteps.

Who will show them what was lost?

My strength comes from these spirits .

I am strong with the strength of the past.

I must be strong for the future.

We will change the world.

We march to the beat of our hearts.

The lake is grey.

As night-lit glass,

And calm.

The lake goes on.