Walking the breaker

that juts defiantly

into the April fury of Lake Michigan

wind tearing at my clothes

and with each wave

shattering on the great limestone boulders:

a spray of icy water

blasting across the slippery walkway

holding a momentary rainbow

in its grip

I have ignored the warning signs,

forgotten common sense,

am aware of the pain and death

that wait if I am swept

off the promontory

down to the chiseled rocks,

and the only reward for the journey:

a few moments in the wind-shadow

of the lighthouse-watching gulls

ride the daggers of air

and scanning the horizon for a story—

before having to make my return

Yet I continue, undaunted,

into the blue, streaked with sudden rainbows,

step after perilous step

and all the time, plastered

to my cold, wet face:

a ridiculous, madman’s smile.

Marc Beaudin has published three chapbooks of poetry: “When

God Was a Child,” The Lost Writings of Miscellaneous Jones,”

and “Saginaw Songs” with fellow poet Al Hellus. His first novel,

A Handful of Dust, was published in 2002. His work has been chosen

for inclusion in an anthology of contemporary American poetry

in Turkish translation to be published in Ankara, Turkey. Information

on his work can be found at:

http://healtheearth.tripod.com.