Round Lake

By Alyssa Jane O’Dell  

I wrote this poem in late summer 2025, when many parts of our region were experiencing historic drought. Being a regenerative farmer and writer who understands the land as kin, this year’s record rainfall brought its own challenges. As many parts of our world continue to experience drought and the destabilizing impacts of climate change, it has returned to my mind as the Season turns once again.

—

Near-full moon

During the drought

The Season turned early to

Blushing maples and sweater weather, and

I saw summer slip

Not out the door, some slinking thing

No, I saw the heat of summer rise in wisps of silver

Lifting off a round lake, a shimmer cup, of moonlight

This summer our rivers near-run dry

But there is still enough water to

Curl its palms to catch the light

I sit on cooling sands watching 

Pickerel fins surface-flash in the glint

The summer warmth is clear and rising off the lake

Released now,

To become the long-prayed for, 

To begin again,

To rain. 

I am near-run empty

But the water that beats my heart

Enough still

To begin again,

To turn with the Season,

To become the thing I so-long prayed for,

To begin again,

To rain.

Alyssa Jane O’Dell (she/they) is a queer writer, musician, and regenerative farmer living on unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation near Ottawa. Her work has appeared in Queer Toronto literary magazine, IceFloe Press, The Monitor magazine, and The Globe and Mail.