UPDATE: This post has been changed since it was first published. The name of the school Jenkins works at has been corrected.
Susan Jenkins, an Eastlake resident, is one of 15 finalists in the first Seattle Times Poetry Contest.
Jenkins is a school librarian at Pinehurst K-8 and lives on an Eastlake houseboat. She and the other finalists will be reading their poems at the Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., starting at 7 p.m. on Monday. The event is free.
The Times will publish the winning poems on Sunday. Jenkins says: "I hope it is I."
Jenkins' poem celebrates the joys of living in Eastlake's houseboat community:
Rocking and Rolling in Eastlake
Rocking and swaying to the ripples
Moving down the channel,
Our floating home dips and tips
Into Lake Union like a rubber ducky
Floating down a river.
Neighbors salute each other across fenced roof top decks.
Chatting over clinking wine glasses and cool breezes,
Watching the sunset together, celebrating a universal event.
Residents exchange the daily pleasantries of waterside living
As they stroll down the creaking, wooden path to home sweet home,
Nestling into their cozy floating doll houses to enjoy the evening.
Memories of broken water pipes, damage from huge waves,
Or the nocturnal rambles of masked mammals, melt away as they gaze
Upon the rocking rooftops of the floating village before them.
Read more about the Times contest here.
