Lake Mendota, after Sunset
by Steven Espada Dawson
Lake Mendota was previously known as Wonkshekhomikla,
in the original Ho-Chunk (Hoocąk), or “where the man lies”
By mid-January this whole lake will freeze over.
A passing stranger tells me this like they had to
get it off their chest. The local hush-hush bubbling
up from the city’s slushed lung. At night,
Mendota terrifies me. When the stars un-dim
the Midwest dark is a polishing rag
for Mendota’s vanity mirror. Trapdoor to some pit
behind my eyes. An idea too far away to see
itself clearly. Under the ice, the fish stop
all their pretending to swim. They’re waiting
for the stars to change. Holding their breath for it.
Every day here, the little dipper is a little bigger
than me. When I ladle soup into a bowl, I wonder
what the stars name my dipper. If they try to see
themselves in my soup. Maybe I’m too far--
just stubble on Mendota’s face. Someone told me
voices carry further over water.
Maybe I terrify them too.
in the original Ho-Chunk (Hoocąk), or “where the man lies”
By mid-January this whole lake will freeze over.
A passing stranger tells me this like they had to
get it off their chest. The local hush-hush bubbling
up from the city’s slushed lung. At night,
Mendota terrifies me. When the stars un-dim
the Midwest dark is a polishing rag
for Mendota’s vanity mirror. Trapdoor to some pit
behind my eyes. An idea too far away to see
itself clearly. Under the ice, the fish stop
all their pretending to swim. They’re waiting
for the stars to change. Holding their breath for it.
Every day here, the little dipper is a little bigger
than me. When I ladle soup into a bowl, I wonder
what the stars name my dipper. If they try to see
themselves in my soup. Maybe I’m too far--
just stubble on Mendota’s face. Someone told me
voices carry further over water.
Maybe I terrify them too.
Steven Espada Dawson is from East Los Angeles. The son of a Mexican immigrant, he is a former Halls Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and Ruth Lilly Fellow at the Poetry Foundation. His work appears in Agni, Guernica, Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review, and Poetry. His poems have been anthologized in Best New Poets, Pushcart Prize, and Sarabande’s Another Last Call.