"Enlightenment" by Lola Haskins
poetry
Enlightenment
As the heron lifts it free,
the fish suddenly
understands
Credit: The Grace to Leave (Anhinga Press, 2012)
Lola Haskins’ 16th book of poetry Like Zeros, Like Pearls (Charlotte Lit Press, 2025. The collection prior to that, Homelight (Charlotte Lit Press, 2023), was named Poetry Book of the Year by Southern Literary Review and the one before that, Asylum (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019), was featured in the NY Times. Past honors include the Iowa Poetry Prize, two Florida Book Awards, two narrative poetry prizes, a Florida's Eden prize for environmental writing, and the Emily Dickinson prize from Poetry Society of America. She has served as Honorary Chancellor for FSPA since 2016.
Living on a marina, seeing gray herons fly and fish jump, I can relate to this!