13 Oct Maid of the Mist by Celeste Lawson
Her breath is the great mist rising above thunder
Linked end to end by a prism of jewel colors
She sank into the rapid whirl of the cosmos
Communion, baptism, burial, each a blur in the wonder of this rush
She became one with the legends soaked in sacred elixir
Echoes of God rumble in her ears
Although you see her as a speck in time, she is eternity flowing
Eternity foaming thick and white,
Easing the pain of broken bodies crashed upon the rocks
She sends their weeping souls upward and outward with care
Rising through the never-ending roar of her song of songs
About the Poet
Celeste Lawson has worked as a dancer, choreographer, arts advocate and administrator, as well as a poet and writer. In 1997, she published I Was Born This Way, a poetry collection based on her experiences at the United Nations/NGO Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995.
Lawson graduated from high school in Germany, and from Stratton College in England. She is the project creator, manager, producer, writer, and artistic director of the Buffalo-based performance ensemble Typography of Women, which has staged and performed productions throughout Western New York based on narrative accounts of the Underground Railroad and stories related by victims of Human Trafficking.
About the Poem
This poem is one of many responses to Just Buffalo Literary Center’s call for work inspired by the National Endowment for the Arts The Big Read Program’s “Where We Live” writing prompt. The poem evokes the original “Maid of the Mist,” the Haudenosaunee maiden Lelawala, who Seneca Nation legend has it fell from her canoe in the rapids of the upper Niagara River, but was rescued by the Thunder God Hé-no, who lived behind the Falls. Watch for more responses to the NEA The Big Read Program’s “Where We Live” writing prompt in this space in the weeks ahead.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.