"Opossum Lake" by Elizabeth Porter

Opossum Lake

Paddle pressed forward, I rock
in with the wake of the fisher’s boat.

The blackgreen water licks
my outstretched fingers. Distantly,

a lantern bobs until it twinkles out
behind the pines. How deep

this black water reaches. My kayak
is enveloped in pre-dawn starlight

blueblack against the treeline, now rust
now magenta. No moon, no owls

have guided me as I cross from shore
to strand with a thermos of still-hot coffee

wedged between my knees. The depth
yawns toward my paddle, and I sink inward.

Elizabeth Porter

Elizabeth Porter wanders, writes, and teaches middle school in south-central Pennsylvania. She has been an educator since 2020 and a ravenous consumer of poetry since her own middle school days. Her work has been published by Jersey Devil Press and is forthcoming in Unbroken and Ballast.

Headshot: Elizabeth Porter

Photo Credit: Staff