“A Love Letter to Lake Michigan,” A Poem by Stephanie Sarabia

Readers & runners pose in front of the American Writers Museum after the Fun Run of Poems Inspired by Friendship in February 2024.

Note from Read & Run Chicago: Stephanie Sarabia is a Chicago-based poet who has performed at several Read & Run Chicago events. She wrote this original poem for our February 2024 Fun Run of Poems Inspired by Friendship, a tribute to the beauty of the friendship kind of love in our lives, and performed it like at Oak Street Beach. For many Chicago-based runners, Lake Michigan is an unending source of love, support, and friendship. There’s no better way to celebrate love this Valentine’s Day than honoring our beautiful body of water.

Stephanie Sarabia and Programs Manager Fernanda Wetzel hold copies of Jose Olivarez’s Promises of Gold, the book of poems inspiring the Fun Run of Poems Inspired by Friendship in February 2024.

A Love Letter to Lake Michigan

From the shores of Oak Street
Ohio Street
North Avenue and 
Montrose 

I’ve walked your spine
And let you wash over me
In baptism. 

I found peace is always more peaceful at your side. 
Found your waves mimic mine. 
Find the light of a city that nurtured me 
wrapped around my feet in the dead of night. 

~~~

You are so beautiful. 
to watch. To see. To hear. 
To swim in the cold waters of your insides 
Let me inside and drown in your hues of green and blue. 

Color me and cleanse me. 
Free me in your spirit
Of solitude. 
Let me learn how to be so alone, yet have a gravitational pull. Undeniable.

~~~

Let me dance with you 
To the sounds of your rumble 
To the sounds of Windy. 

City so sweet you kiss every chance you get. 
You wave hello every morning, and at night
Still waters run deep and serene 
They bring quietness to deaf ears. 

Tranquility. 
From a moonchild to a body marionette by the moon. 
When the world is chaos, you are my savior. 

I savor our delicate moments at the edge of the world. 
At the edge of a love so ours 
It makes the ocean jealous. 

~~~

Even the sun is pulled,
Ascended into glory at your horizon
by the promises of gold 
You shine on your back. 

By the promises of glory 
We drink from you. 
We bathe in you. 
We dive in you. 

By god you rain on us. 
Irrigate and flood. 
Let us love the same way you love us. 

So take this poem,
As a prayer. 
As a promise. 
As a love letter. 

From the shores of Oak Street, 
Belmont Harbor.
Foster. 
Navy Pier. 

I will always 
come back 
To you. 

About Stephanie Sarabia: Stephanie Sarabia is a Mexican-American Chicago native that was first introduced to slam poetry her freshman year of high school. She competed in various slam competitions throughout her four years including the Chicago poetry festival Louder Than a Bomb where Stephanie finished top 6 out of 1,300 poets with her poem “Broken English” in 2017. Stephanie became part of The Excelano Project as sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, where she continued forming her voice and shaping her poetic identity. Stephanie continues to dabble in poetry and hopes to string together her works into a chapbook, and she is excited to share her poetry with Read & Run Chicago! Follow Stephanie Sarabia on Instagram.

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