Review by Deborah K Frontiera
This collection of poetry on Lake Superior has as more topics, emotions, styles of writing, forms of poetry, and descriptions of the lake itself than could possibly fit in a review. In his Foreword to Feet in the Waves: Poems of Lake Superior, editor Raymond Luczk states: “Her unknowingness is part of her allure. She is a mysterious creature full of ice with her eyes hinting a faint warmth like those classic film noirs. Gazing at her, we intuit that somewhere in the pits of her cold heart, a few flickers of fire still throb.” (pg. ii)
Here is a partial list of what is covered in this remarkable volume: Who “discovers” anything; bird migration, humor in a cold dip, time, eagles in flight, falling in love, waves and surf, beaches, people, history, Ojibwa culture, references to Walt Whitman, drowning, sensual language, sunken ships, memories of loss, waiting for spring breakup, struggles and exhaustion, immigrants, healing within, the sacred, hiking, swimming … If you can’t find something you relate to, you must be brain dead.
Here are a few favorite quotes. From Dana Richter on bird migration across the lake, “Those that succeed still sing.” From Sonya Goltx, in “Beach Time,” “surf waves … / rising, churning …/ land on soft beaches./ anchoring aquatic deserts.” In a poem on sand and water, fire hot sand and icy water “too cold to cool off.” If I tried to list all the great quotes, I’d have to quote the entire volume.
I particularly enjoyed the idea of treading water as a metaphor for a relationship about to end. And another of sinking in memories and losses while sitting on a Lake Superior shore. Other themes include the exhaustion of arriving at Isle Royale, the struggles of pioneering ancestors, the effect of a place on a person and healing within, ghosts of the past, working on an ore freighter, and thoughts on the Edmund Fitzgerald: what happens when we brag or compare it to the Titanic. In winter, we hunger for summer. And then there’s Beverly Matherne’s Ode to a Lutheran pastor recalling the lessons he told of the lake, water and spirit.
Reflections, Artist’s Point, Grand Marais, MN
And I can’t forget Jane Piirto’s poetic circle tour as a travel guide for a trip I’d like to make around the fullness of the lake. Or this quote from Liz Minette’s “November on Lake Superior”: “And it’s heavy undulations/like deep bells, sometimes gongs,/calling to the night.” “No Tall Tale” by John Hilden tells of being caught on an ice floe that drifts away from shore when you thought you were ON the shore.
As a reader travels through the book, the poems seem to be deeper and darker. Sheila Parker compares ships in a harbor to work animals coming home to the barn. There are just too many good quotes and themes to mention them all. Feet in the Waves: Poems of Lake Superior is the type of book you can savor for a long time, a few poems tonight, some tomorrow, then next week, next month, dawdling through it, savoring pieces over time to let them sink in, drawing you into the depths of Lake Superior herself. Just remember to come up for air once in a while so you can continue to swim through the pages.
Feet in the Waves: Poems of Lake Superior Edited by Raymond Luczak
ISBN 979-8-89656-133-0 (PB); 979-8-89656-134-7 (HC); 979-8-896656-135-4 (e-book) Modern History Press, Ann Arbor, MI 2026
