This week’s poem, by Jane Spencer, brings us fully into the autumnal.

I love the mood Spencer evokes through the details of a simple, vividly penumbral meal, and the vastness of the elements beyond it, dark and deep.

Spencer’s background is in the fine arts, and she also finds pleasure, she says, in “expressing visual images with words through poetry.” Her work focuses on landscapes and the emotions they conjure.

Poets, please note that submissions to Deep Water are now open. Deep Water is especially eager to share poems by Black writers, writers of color, indigenous writers, and other underrepresented voices. You’ll find a link to submit in the credits below.

Sonar

By Jane Spencer

Dark October’s

rapid evening,

induce a lethargic supper:

hovering over sourdough, soft butter, figs—

hot black tea. Graced by a

majestic undertow,

cello diving on the radio.

Plates of thinly-vinegared leaves,

miniscule sprouts,

revive

while a booming ocean

slopes into the shoreline—

impossible to see.

Megan Grumbling is a poet and writer who lives in Portland. Deep Water Maine Poems is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. “Sonar,” copyright © 2018 by Jane Spencer, appears by permission of the author. Submissions to Deep Water are open now and through the end of November. For more information, go to mainewriters.org/deep-water.