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    The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems
    The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems
    The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems
    Ebook70 pages17 minutes

    The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems

    By Anne-Marie Oomen and Linda Nemec Foster

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    About this ebook

    The Lake Michigan Mermaid is a new tale that feels familiar. The breeze off the lake, the sand underfoot, the supreme sadness of being young and not in control—these sensations come rushing back page by page, bringing to life an ancient myth of coming of age in a troubled world. Freed from the minds of Linda Nemec Foster and Anne-Marie Oomen, the Lake Michigan mermaid serves as a voice of reason for when we’re caught in the riptide.

    This is a gripping tale in poems of a young girl’s desperate search for guidance in a world turned upside down by family and economic upheaval. Raised in a ramshackle cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan, Lykretia takes refuge in her beloved lake in the face of her grandmother’s illness and her mother’s eager attempts to sell their home following her recent divorce. One day Lykretia spots a creature in the water, something beautiful and inexplicable. Is it the mythical Lake Michigan mermaid, or an embodiment of the stories her grandmother told as dementia ravaged her mind? Thus begins a telepathic conversation between a lost young girl and Phyliadellacia, the mermaid who saves her in more ways than one.

    Accompanied by haunting illustrations, The Lake Michigan Mermaid offers a tender tale of friendship, redemption, and the life-giving power of water. As it explores family relationships and generational bonds, this book is an unforgettable experience that aims to connect readers of all ages.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWayne State University Press
    Release dateMar 5, 2018
    ISBN9780814342213
    The Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems
    Author

    Anne-Marie Oomen

    ANNE-MARIE OOMEN is the author of The Lake Michigan Mermaid (coauthored with Linda Nemec Foster), Pulling Down the Barn, House of Fields, An American Map: Essays, Uncoded Woman, and Love, Sex, and 4-H. She has written seven plays, including the award-winning The Secrets of Luuce Talk Tavern. She is a poetry and nonfiction instructor at Solstice MFA at Lasell University and Interlochen College of Creative Arts. She and her husband, David Early, live in their handmade house near Traverse City, Michigan. Visit her at www.anne-marieoomen.com.

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      Book preview

      The Lake Michigan Mermaid - Anne-Marie Oomen

      Illustrator

      Lyk

      My name is Lykretia, meaning joy, but

      I don’t feel joy. They call me Lyk for short.

      The name, Lyk, it freaks me out. Like, Lyk, like …

      Friends say my name so much it turns into

      stammer, something their tongues are searching for,

      to make one thing like … some other random

      thing. But they never really do compare.

      It’s just a word to fill the air, like Lyk …

      nothing. Each day I wonder if there might

      be a being out there, beyond that line

      my mom calls the thin blue lip of blue lake,

      a being who would say Lyk like the name

      was meant to join one joyful thing to some

      other joyful thing. Is there any one?

      Hearing My Name

      Perhaps you

      heard my name in

      your dream last night when the

      lonely sound of

      ice captured the waves

      and silenced their song, which

      danced in your heart—this song, this

      echo of a stranger

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