Eireann Lorsung’s “The Way to Really Love It”
Éireann Lorsung's poetry reflects a love of craft; not just the craft of poetry, but her love of textiles, dressmaking, and paper. Lorsung's artistic talents are not limited to being a wordsmith; she also used to have her own line of clothing and now creates prints and drawings. Lorsung was born in Minneapolis and earned in MFA in writing and her BAs in English and Japanese from the University of Minnesota. You can find out more about Lorsung at her website, ohbara.com.
The Way to Really Love It
Touch the edge of salt pond with a finger. Maps
don't show the taste of water.
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You can know
what cows eat by tang in butter, and here
what swims, what stays away
tells saltiness. If you wade
hip deep in these ponds, maybe
something will begin
or something will stop happening.
Places like this
are dying off. Between land & ocean,
you stop thinking of it and it's gone.
Sudden
lack of birds. Pitch pine. A bog quaking
to life, with life, you had better
listen to this disappearing land, you had better
be quick, keep it trimmed,
burning--
- "The Way to Really Love It" in music for landing planes by by Éireann Lorsung (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2007). Copyright © 2007 by Éireann Lorsung. Reprinted with permission from Milkweed Editions.