AUGUST ON LAKE MICHIGAN

August is Lake Michigan’s way
of clearing boats from her bays
and bonfires from her beaches,
the month when cottage owners
give up the idea of staining the deck
and call local painters who promise
to look at the job after Labor Day –
a comfortable, necessary fiction
understood by painter and owner alike.

“How much longer ‘ya up here?”
is the talk at August gatherings,
while glum shopkeepers
post signs proclaiming
END OF SEASON SALE!
and lower prices to full retail.

August’s big waves and wind
chase off all but the fortunate few
and now the lake can rest.
Now she gathers her strength
to face November’s roar.

I published this poem here last year during August, but it bears repeating. I have always loved August on Lake Michigan, whether it was riding big waves with best friends in Grand Haven or, as an adult, savoring the last days of summer at the cottage in Good Hart. My mother loved August on the Big Lake, too; August and summer-ripe tomatoes. God Bless us all. (If you have spent time in Lake Michigan resort towns, I hope you got a chuckle out of the lines about local tradespeople and shopkeepers.)

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A New Poem Every Monday
(tho’ sometimes life gets in the way)

Joseph Neely, all rights reserved