Inlet the way a river does: the mouth
a black dog lapping a bowl of stars.
The same kid always wins, shows up
in the right wrong places, another makeshift
town tucked in his pocket. Fog, that thief,
unravels the landscape, changes the rules,
watches the bank chase an orange dog, a crown,
a boat with a single oar, a bigger boat, the rising tide.
Valerie Lawson is a poet and educator based in Downeast Maine. The author of Dog Watch and several chapbooks, her work has appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Café Review, About Place Journal, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of a 2026 Maine Arts Commission grant to complete the manuscript, Hope on the Rising Tide, which was a finalist for the Dryden-Vreeland Book Prize. Lawson teaches writing in adult education and community settings.
