Poetry

from Encore Magazine September 2021

Stages of Her Career — Sandy Bremer has

River Road

Only once did we take the river rather than the road past the three houses that were grandfathered into the national lakeshore.

Usually we take the curves slowly, not remembering which one gives us the view of the lake, blue with blue above. Sometimes.

I was not good at canoeing. The seat was hard, the view flowing, the life vest too obvious. And I had to go to the bathroom. Where the Platte enters Lake Michigan, you can wade to the waves, look for stones, cross over to look for plovers, smell the nearest pines.

You never have the lake alone. But you needn’t be sociable. Just look down or across. Imagine Wisconsin smiling or the ore boat captain.

The sun sets large and late. It repeats itself to your knees. The glowing aftereffects are why you go there, saying goodnight to summer.

— Elaine M. Seaman

Margaret DeRitter

Seaman and her husband, Bill, have a home in Texas Township and own a cabin near Honor, Michigan, that provides them easy access to the Platte River, Sleeping Bear Dunes and the shore of Lake Michigan. She enjoys looking for rocks and getting her toes wet. Seaman also makes quilts for display; an exhibit of her quilts is at the Carnegie Center for the Arts, in Three Rivers, through Sept. 9.