On the Lake
The blue water, cobalt, flat, ascending
toward Michigan carried James in his craft
toward Dan Cody's wild west showboat; water
as temperate as cornfields ripening
toward horizons, everywhere Illinois.
No undulating crabgrass squatting thick
in the midst of golden ears, golden eyes.
No mountains &emdash; only this ascending lake
carrying James toward the white clouds, the white
home where, in the corpulent East, Gatsby
goes home to blue lawns, horrid roses, and
dreams of green water, everywhere, water
rising like the red tides of Egypt, like
the sewn cloth of a new country, spreading
like corn, like the lake, like awakening
from a cold and empty dream of plenty.
-- by Paul Totah 7/10/97