voice | poetry
Soft fog is silent atop Lake Samish
The sleepy water snores against its shore
Glacier waters bounce off rock-face
leaping down into the warm bed like cold feet.
The lake sits as milk on the bottom of the bowl
A ring of jagged evergreens holds it all down
I squint and the view is a painting
with no middle. Canvas unfinished. Brushes rest.
Difficult to capture―the artist saves it for last.
Shannon Laws is an award-winning poet, performer, and advocate for the arts. She has been recognized with two Mayor’s Arts Awards and the Dr. Asha Bhargava Memorial Award — Community Champion. Her work has been featured in numerous journals and anthologies, and she has captivated audiences at esteemed literary events, including the Jack McCarthy Evergreen Invitational Slam, SpeakEasy, Poetry Night, Kitchen Sessions, and the West Coast Tagore Festival. Beyond her writing and performances, Shannon actively fosters literary and artistic communities. Since 2022, she has curated Corridor, a monthly “found-art” zine project that showcases the work of more than 50 contributing poets and artists. She is also the founder and host of Poetry Club, an engaging discussion group established in 2015. View more posts
shannon p. laws