The Third Annual City Weekly Poetry Contest Winning Poem

Comments About "Mineral Sea" "Many people try to turn everyday surroundings into poetry. Most fail. Christopher Leibow's "Mineral Sea" succeeds through a beguiling mix of odd rhythms and tightly contained symbolism."
MINERAL SEA Driving along an endless flat I-80 East I look for my mineral sea and her gunmetal waters and There where the azure mirrored sky rides foamy waves and where sudden angry storms turn glass calm in a moment. I must be close a great blue heron Just beyond sight Water Salt and Flight Passing old rotted logs SaltAire the resort of kings. "Come rejuvenate yourself in the healing waters of the Great Salt Lake!" Two gulls circle touching wingtips waltzing to the faint music of Friday nights 1936 and the Wiley Clegg Orchestra. I stop east of Tooele and walk to get closer. Brine flies and mosquitoes The sulfuric scent of my childhood. Mineral sea fictitious ocean shadow Bonneville I bend and touch your waters Genuflecting holy water Of Ibis Of Egrets Of Gull and Mineral The setting sun lifts up the lake's edge and a thousand great blue herons escape. I-80 East I drive towards the city and taste salt that has found my wounds.