This week’s Deep Water poem, “Welcome Home,” by Gary Lawless, is about America – not its politics or borders, but the expansive land and waters where we make our home. In “Welcome Home,” which recently appeared in Cove Street Gallery’s “I Am An American” exhibit in Portland, Lawless shares an essential vision of America the beautiful: diverse, dynamic and wide open.
Lawless is co-owner of Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick, and a widely published poet, with 20 published collections in the U.S. and five in Italy. Originally from Belfast, he lives in Nobleboro.
Welcome Home
By Gary Lawless
for Leonard Meiselman
What is the face of America –
Granite, limestone, rock face
Upthrust delta rich
Soil and deep forest
Swift rivers flowing
Deep ice and first peoples
Where are the borders
Mountain, river, glacier’s edge
Everything moving
Wind water night sky stars
Great flocks flying
Great schools swimming
Great herds moving
Crossing, crossing
Touching the edge of ice
Seeds on the breeze
In sunlight
Put your roots down and
You are welcome here
Megan Grumbling is a poet and writer who lives in Portland. Deep Water: Maine Poems is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. “Welcome,” copyright © 2021 by Gary Lawless.
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