A poem from Mekeel McBride

Here is a poem for this gorgeous fall day, from one of my favorite poets: Mekeel McBride.  I took my first college poetry class with Mekeel, and her teaching was as delightful as her poems--as filled with a playful appreciation for language's surprises and delights. 

The poem I'm sharing today isn't exactly playful, but to me it feels fittingly autumnal--about things that are stripped away, and the desolate beauty that remains.  And that image of the suddenly weightless fish feels powerful and true, the perfect simile for the strange and terrible freedom that comes with loss.

Lake Meadow Sky

It was only after I lost what I loved most,
saw it disappear as surely

as a fish feels the weight of water being pulled away
from its body, too terrified to give credence to the cold
hook buried deep in its throat

that I, weightless in the skyward arc, knew
I would have to love everything.