Tonight is Poetry Night for me, as I continue my journey as a poet playing around with words and ideas, scrambling both up into what could be called a decent dinner or a very late brunch. We could go with either one.
Before we get into the poetry, however, I have a brief poetry celebration to commemorate.
Last year for the first time, I became a dues-paying member of the Iowa Poetry Association, a small effort on my part to try and take my poetry seriously. For the first time this year, I participated in the IPA’s competitions for their annual anthology, Lyrical Iowa. Although I did not place in any of the competitions I participated in, my poem “Peace of Mind” was selected for publication in the 2025 version of Lyrical Iowa. You can pick up a copy here: this year’s edition was dedicated to Rodney Reeves, a fellow IPA member and a member of the Burlington-area Society of Great River Poets I also belong to.
Now, on with the poetry
I’m glad it’s becoming late fall/early winter now. I’ve always felt I did better in colder climates than warmer ones – maybe some heritage from my Wisconsinite parents and grandparents. But I also wonder if it would be everything I’d hope for, so this poem grew out of these thoughts.
Dreams or Mirages of the North
Fort Madison, Iowa, 23 November 2025
Cradled in my head
In the heat sink of an Iowan July
Despairing of sensing cold ever again
I entertain images of ice-wind gusts over rocky and remote lands
Mountains standing sentinel over a modest hamlet
The stark beauty of winter in twilight.
However, my mind ponders
The cool images warming my overheated soul
And I question if they are mere delusions.
If my dreams became some form of reality
And I arrive at my ideal lands,
Would it merely be a cold hardship rather than one overheated?
I only once lived in a home near the ocean, the modest-sized town of Seabrook, Texas. It was southeast of Houston, on Galveston Bay with Galveston Island a bit further southeast.
I ended up spending most of my life on the banks of the Mississippi River, but I’ve sometimes wondered whether I would have developed something of a similar kinship to the ocean I did to the river. I’ve come to consider that it might be slightly different due to apprehensions I have about very large bodies of water.
I have the type of fear of heights that has no effect on me if I’m at the top floor of a building or flying in a plane1, but leaves me almost paralyzed at the thought of me hanging off the side of a building on a rope or even peeking over the balcony of a tall place. Similarly, I have no fear of crossing an ocean by ship, but I wonder what type of panic I would have if I ducked my face underneath the waves and all I saw was dark blue fathoms and prowling sharks below2.
So, those thoughts prompted the following.
Tepid Channels and Chilled Depths
Fort Madison, Iowa, 23 November 2025
Sitting in the brownish green of The River
Its Flow around me as I sit on the edge of the channel
Anchoring my feet in the muck of its riverbed,
The life and waters pouring around me,
I ponder what it would be like to dive into the open waters
Of the Open Sea.
I picture myself bobbing on top of the endless brine
And anxiety wrapping my heart into tap-out submission
At the thought of dipping my head above the surface
Gazing into the acres of dark blue, the alien fathoms,
Waiting for it and its dwellers to devour me,
I treasure the tepid channels above the chilled depths.
Now for a quick commercial break, lol.
If You’re Interested in the Poetry You See Here… You Might Want to Check Out Some More…
My first collection of poetry is out.
Since Substack doesn’t have the setup for this (that I’m aware of), I’ve set up something at my WordPress sister site, Liegois Media. I have my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. The link is below.
Take care, everyone, and I’ll see you down by the bend in the river, road, or line.
-30-
While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.
- My reluctance to fly nowadays is due to crowded aircraft, cramped seating, and overcharged tickets. ↩︎
- A new word I learned today – Thalassophobia, the fear of deep bodies of water. You can learn new stuff every day. ↩︎