Petoskey Stone / Mitch VanAcker

PETOSKEY STONE

On the shores of North Point
a few arias of crosswind

hatch coils on the mute surf.
Last winter’s undertow

wrenched a crop
from the lake’s full-voiced gullet.

I lift from the clear jelly
a pale gray bud

and appraise the score
left in its frozen vessels:

that sometime verse of seaflesh,
a passacaglia of ancient

lips, ears, and genitals,
slowed by stone and floe

to the oceanic rhythm—
a tone we are deaf to.

Mitch VanAcker is a writer based in Detroit. His work examines “nature” and “the self”—their seeming disharmonies and the structures we build to reconcile them. He enjoys bonfires, kayaking, and impromptu visits to strange cities.

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