Susan Carol Hauser

The lake is quiet today,
bereft of wind,
even of breeze,
the blue of the sky
laid out on the surface.

The heavens then
beneath our feet
we steer the canoe
as though by stars

reaching with our paddles
for the sweet, dark deep,
pulling hard against this life,
against death

until the celestial waters
open to us
and the wake
murmurs our names.

"The thing about poetry, at least for me, is that it needs to resonate in some deep place in my consciousness, indeed in my subconscious, and make me recognize something about myself or the universe that, somewhere deep inside, I already knew but needed the poem to help me bring it from its subterranean regions to the surface. It's much like music: multilevel, abstract, highly emotional, totally necessary. Susan reaches into my deepest memory. She sings with a calm but passionate voice, the voice of an artist who has accepted the joy and pain of living, who finds meaning in that human experience. To me these poems are mysterious and yet familiar. She speaks and the music of truth sings."