Niagara by Lee Fairchild

fairchild
Lee Fairchild
from Forgotten Poets

Niagara, Niagara ! how glad I
    am to think
That Smith was not the first of men
    to wander on your brink !
For though the many falls of Smith
    were very great indeed,
Had you been called Smith Falls, why,
    not a man your call would heed.

And think of Jones, who took a tum-
    ble once upon a time—
Suppose that he had been the first to
    note your heights sublime ?
Oh, Jones Falls—let’s save the mark !—
    had you been named but that,
I’m sure it now were your great self
    you would be laughing at.

The Brink of Thunder !    Ah, that’s
    the name, Niagara, for you.
The savage heard you shake the earth
    and by your voice he knew
Your name.  Go on untamed, uncurbed,
    stampeding to the sea—
The world’s chief orator are you, Ni-
    agara, to me.

Source: Judge Pan-American Number, vol. 40, no 1021, May 11, 1901

Many thanks to Arden Phair for bringing this poem to the curator’s attention.

About Lee Fairchild

Rainbow Bridge by Rylan Hoffman

hoffman
Rylan Hoffman at Niagara Falls
Photo by Alexis Harrison

i wake to the timbre of your father’s laughter
still thinking of real magic… how a thousand
tons of water rush around us on the cliffside
wrapping around the rocks, how the yellow
sun caresses the sky to create new colors,
reflecting prisms in your powder blue eyes

you offer your letter to a golden brass lock
and i write it out carefully, like calligraphy,
and we walk further down to watch all the
bright red leaves and the glistening water
cascading. we hold hands under the mist,
we hold hands on the way to the car and
we hold hands while we’re falling asleep

Niagara is 3 separate waterfalls, we threw
2 keys into the river under Rainbow Bridge;
1 day we’ll make our way back to the spot
where you squeezed on my arm and said

“thank you”

i know Time is a perfect spiral,
i know Love is a beautiful view

Source: Rylan Hoffman, 2026

Rylan Hoffman is a transgender poet based in Columbus, OH whose writing covers themes of
nature, resilience, safe love, and recovery. While living with his cat, two reptiles, and tight-knit
community, he is currently polishing up his second full-length book of poetry.

Read about the Rainbow Bridge

Echo of the Falls by Jimmy Lisotto

lisotto
Jimmy Lisotto

The roar of perpetual thunder
As the falls cascade down,
A relentless sledgehammer of liquid fury.

The ethereal mist—
The Smoke of Niagara—
Ascends into the heavens,
A celestial canopy of white
Piercing the sky. 

Closer—
Curling like tendrils.
Vaporous.
A rainbow cast,
Iridescent droplets
Shimmering in the air.
An invigorating blanket 
Of aqueous embrace.

An echo of the Falls.

Source: Jimmy Lisotto, 2026

Echo of the Falls was entered into the Niagara Falls Poetry Project’s 25th Anniversary Poetry Contest.

Jimmy Lisotto is a poet in New Hampshire. He has previously been published in Agape Review, The International Library of Poetry, Solid Food Press, Trashlight Press, Bee The Foundation, Arlijo, Black Noise Zine, Valiant Scribe, and Faith On Every Corner. He believes that poetry is a medium that can connect people from all walks of life. He can be found on Facebook and Instagram. 

Death on the Parkway, 2018 by Sally Basmajian

basmajian
Sally Basmajian

What a sight he was,
Garbed in finery—
Brown-dappled, feathery,
Long-legged majesty:
Niagara Parkway’s king.

He stalked toward the tourists,
Undaunted, vigilant.
He fixed his beady eyes
On my bashful ones.
I ran away.

Then, when he got too cocky,
Desperado style,
He lunged and drew some blood,
The citizens responded:
He must be stopped.

The local headlines bellowed,
“Mad Turkey on the Loose!”
The SWAT team was deployed,
‘Hut, hut, hut!” met “Gobble!”
We held our breath.

A bang, with flying feathers—
Proud Thomas lurched and fell,
Next to the river’s roar
In Paradise Grove, Niagara,
Our turkey died.

Now walkers stroll in safety,
Cyclists can wheel on by,
Young lovers snap their selfies,
And picnickers are undefied—
But our turkey is no more.

Alas, Tom Turkey is no more.

Source: Sally Basmajian, 2026

Death on the Parkway, 2018 was entered into the Niagara Falls Poetry Project’s 25th Anniversary Poetry Contest.

Read about Tom Turkey here

Sally Basmajian is the author of three traditionally published novels (So Hard to Do, a romcom; Fountain of Evil, a dark romance; and Apprentices in Magic, a middle-grade fantasy) and countless short stories, some of which are award-winners. With over 60,000 TikTok followers, she micro-influences by gleefully reading entries from her teen diaries.

https://www.sallybasmajian.com/      https://www.tiktok.com/@sallybasmajian

Creator’s Gift by Wendy Sturgeon

sturgeon
Niagara Falls
painted by Arthur Parton, ca 1880
Image courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

Sustaining many, injuring none
your magic fluid owns claim to natural freedom,
natural beauty.
Creator intended you to survive, Onguiaahra,
through millennia / eons with prayers
of thankfulness for all life
every creature, indeed multitudes of two legged
revere your majesty, come to peer,
to heal, to transform, bathe in your favor,
mysterious ion mist, Creator’s gift.

Though greed of others strives to tame you,
by commanding grip to dominate, fill insatiable need
that only desecrates in attempting to subdue
your ebullient continuousness.

Your thunders and whispers persist as
you, Onguiaahra, pursue your original purpose
Though darkness may surround you still
you inspire and feed our souls

Source: Wendy Sturgeon, 2026

Creator’s Gift was entered into the Niagara Falls Poetry Project’s 25th Anniversary Poetry Contest.

Wendy Sturgeon has been writing poetry and creating art as long as she can remember first under the tutelage of her artist, writer, poet mother. Her first poem published as a teenager, followed with many publishing’s throughout adult life. sporadically while enjoying family life and employment. Poetry is an art form she has returned to more avidly since retiring.