United States, (b. 1968)
J. OSWALD BOYD, 1936
Lake Michigan
- After the tanker ran aground on Simmons Reef,
- small boats gathered for days,
- crowding like piglets near a sow,
- suckling fuel — 900,000 gallons —
- as the hull of the ship
- rose and fell
- with each swell of the lake,
- as though almost breathing.
- The men in the boats cut their engines
- when they approached.
- They stubbed out cigarettes
- in the sludge of old coffee
- and took what was not theirs to take.
- Beneath the glare of the sun,
- they rode their boats like hog lice,
- mange mite, wood tick, stable fly,
- every, man a vector of disease, bloated
- but still thirsty.
About the Poet:
Cindy Hunter Morgan, United States, (b. 1968), is a poet and educator. Morgan has a BA from Albion College and an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. Morgan teaches creative writing, poetry and book arts at Michigan State University. She now heads up communications for MSU Libraries.
Morgan is the author of two chapbooks. The Sultan, The Skater, The Bicycle Maker won The Ledge Press 2011 Poetry Chapbook Competition. Apple Season won the Midwest Writing Center’s 2012 Chapbook Contest, judged by Shane McCrae.
Her full-length collection of poems informed by Great Lakes shipwrecks, Harborless, came out from Wayne State University Press (2017). Morgan’s new book, Far Company, will be published by Wayne State University Press in May 2022.
Her poems have appeared in a variety of journals, including Salamander, Sugar House Review, West Branch, A cappella Zoo, Bateau, Weave, and others. She also writes regularly for Murder Ballad Monday, a blog devoted to the exploration of the murder ballad tradition in folk and popular music. [DES-03/22]
Additional information:
- Cindy Hunter Morgan – https://www.cindyhuntermorgan.com/
- Cindy Hunter Morgan – MSU