Lake of Loss
Jim LaVilla-Havelin
June 8, 2025
On the day we all drove out to see the eclipse
and got there way too early
we drove around the hilly
countryside
dipped down a turning road
to see Medina Lake -
Medina Lake almost emptied
from the drought
piers sticking out into thin air
all their leggings showing;
the waterline like a bathtub ring
the vista from the sealed-up
seafood shack just an arid
empty that was once
a lake
when we got back
to the eclipse party
we got to watch
a grey sky get grayer
the whole sky an emptiness
we’d counted on;
peering into a staggered
somewhat natural world.
Jim LaVilla-Havelin is the author of six books of poetry. His most recent, Tales from the Breakaway Republic, a chapbook, was published by Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, in May 2022. LaVilla-Havelin is the Coordinator for National Poetry Month in San Antonio.