MEASURING THE DEPTH - A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by SANS

Poems about lakes edited by Joy Howard, presenting a collection that meditates on the scale, silence, and inward reflection elicited by water. Across distinct voices, the book explores remembered and imagined lochs, lochans, and tarns, linking landscape depth to personal nature. The introduction frames sleepless contemplation as a way to measure one’s own mind through moonless nights, rhythmic breathing, and deep indifference, guiding readers into sustained, contemplative listening.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages60

Reading Time1 h 32 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Sleepless Julia Deakin

# MEASURINGTHE DEPTH Poems about lakes Edited by Joy Howard 135697 # ATIONALPOEYLIBRARY T+44(0)2079210943SapportedusingpuitkfundngbyARTS COUNCILpoetrylibrary.org.ukENGLAND 2 # MEASURING THE DEPTH NATIONALPOETRYLIBRARY Books may be renewed by telephone and ontine viathe library's catalogue | | | --- | Tuesday-Sunday,11am-8pmT+44(0)2079210943poetrylibrary.org.uk @wetblackboughNationalPoetryLibrary回nationalpoetrylibrary First published in 2020 by Grey Hen PressPO Box 269KendalCumbriaLA99FEwww.greyhenpress.com ISBN 978-1-9996903-4-2 Collection Copyright ◎Joy Howard 2019 C Copyright in each poem remains with the authors All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form,or byany means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingor otherwise,without prior written permission from the authorand Grey Hen Press. Printed by Flexpress,Birstall,Leicester LE43BY A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressivefeature.It is earth's eye;looking into which the beholdermeasures the depth of his own nature. Henry David Thoreau QVIIRRADV Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2022 with funding fromKahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/measuringdepth0000joyh Contents Introduction Sleepless Julia Deakin11 Contemplation Loch Ossian AC Clarke15Great Slave Lake Fiona Ritchie Walker16Thaw on Lake Champlain Mary Dingee Fillmore17Finnish Lake at Dawn Elisabeth Rowe18Brantwood-Midsummer Penelope Shuttle19One Day,Grasmere Jean Watkins20Reflection Hilary Tattershall21At Stover Lake Susan Taylor22A Lull in the Hostilities Joy Howard24Glendalough Jo Roach24Watching Reeds Jennifer Russell25Tarns Ilse Pedler26Wind on Kitmere Kerry Darbishire27Blakemere Gill McEvoy28Howle Pool Hermione Sandall29Lake Trasimeno Maggie Butt30Equilibriation Joy Howard31Slippage Josie Walsh32Looking for Answers at the Lake Jennie Osborne33 ① ## Introduction Sleepless think of lakes.Lakes you have known and great ones,the size of countries,knownonly of.Of how you can-if you can-know a body of water.Waters you've skirtedas they kept pace and held their peace.Those whose hems you have touched. Under the same more silent dark,findall the lakes of the nightside hemisphere-reach beneath their skin.The Cumbrians flooring the fells-prone but restless,acres and acres of eyes,outstaringthe livelong night,reflecting nothing in parts but moonless sky,drowning the negligible stars;then all the lochs and lochans of Scotlandin the colder dark,under the same sky ticking,lapping,breathing,systole/diastole:dive to take that wild arhythmic pulse,taste that deep indifference. Julia Deakin ( w

FAQs

What is the central theme of the collection?

The collection centers on poems about lakes and on how water leads to inward measurement of one’s own nature.

Who edited the book?

Joy Howard edited the poems.

How is the book organized at the beginning?

It opens with an Introduction, starting with the poem “Sleepless” by Julia Deakin.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by SANS