Internationally-renowned Gulf of Maine poet Gary Lawless wrote this poem in honor of Friends of Casco Bay’s 30th Anniversary. Friends of the Bay heard the first reading of this poem during our Celebrating Water – 30 Years of Friends of Casco Bay event on July 27, 2020.
For Casco Bay, for Us
By Gary Lawless
rising in the mountains, the water,
finding its way
from granite to the bay
we are water
and we want to flow
flow through our lives
here a forest, here
a town, flowing, down –
here are rocks, falls –
we fall, at the end,
at the mouth
into a larger body,
our body, body of
water, to become
to become more than we are –
where the future flows
into the sea,
and all that you see
we are water
we are patterns in water,
currents, eddies, we
pool and move
on, we flow –
how many rivers flow
into the bay
how many streams
into the rivers
where does the rain go
where does the wind go
bays to the ocean
how much moonlight
touches the water
how many fish
find their way home
we are water
and we want to flow –
in beauty, in light,
in whatever weather
the rocks are singing
as water passes over
it is high tide
and our hearts are full
it is low tide
and we are waiting
we have been waiting for you
for thousands of years
we are water
the water is the bay
the wind is the bay
the fish, the birds, the plants,
we are the bay
what happens to water
happens to us
we are water
and we want to flow, saying
this is our body and
we are home
we rise as water rises
we fall as water falls
we are water
we are the bay
we are water
we are the bay
About Gary Lawless:
Gary, originally from Belfast/Penobscot Bay, is the award-winning author of 21 poetry collections. In addition to sharing his own writings as a bio-regional poet, Gary has long worked to encourage others to bring their voices into the wider community. He has empowered combat veterans, homeless people, immigrants, refugees, adults with disabilities, and prison inmates to write poetry and publish their works. In honor of his poetry and his community work, the Maine Humanities Council awarded Gary the 2017 Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize, the University of Southern Maine has given him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, and the Emily Harvey Foundation has offered him two residencies in Venice, Italy. He and Beth Leonard opened Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick 40 years ago as a community hub.
Cover Photograph by Kevin Morris
