An Immediate Response to W.S. Merwin
What I live for I can seldom believe in.
W.S. Merwin, The Carrier of Ladders
and I said,
there is only longing–
swimming
across the channel
to get to the next pulsing in muted yellow.
Mystery runs a few steps
ahead of me.
I look up when I am lost in the middle of the forest
and feel the world spin
because having what we live for,
what we truly desire
is like trying to hold that fog over the lake
in our arms.
~ Heather Ann Schmidt
Heather Ann Schmidt lives in Waterford Michigan and is an adjunct professor at Oakland Community College. She edits tinfoildresses poetry journal and Quiddities Journal. Her poems can be found in various online and print journals. Her chapbook, Channeling Isadora Duncan, was recently released from Gold Wake Press and her first full collection of poems, Chasing Lou Hoover, is forthcoming from Village Green Press. She received her MFA from National University and hopes to begin pursuing her PhD at Union Institute in 2010.
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