SUNDAY MORNING, OFF THE COAST OF MAINE The basement Laundromat is deserted I fill both machines, then head upstairs to the Black Duck for a scone and chai. I sit at the cribbage table, watch the day wander in. There is gypsy jazz playing, Django Reinhardt style, its foot-tapping rhythm contagious. Arline and Mo […]
Author: Marjorie Mir
NACE EL FUEGO
NACE EL FUEGO ~After reading “It Is Born,” by Pablo Neruda I have consulted his poems about the sea to dampen the dust of my dry yearning, but even here a fire is born. I am left thirsty for blue, for air whetted with salt. Where is the hidden cove with its sea glass treasures, […]
WINTER ON ISLAND – BONNIE ENES
WINTER ON ISLAND Wicked cold day. An afternoon walk with the dogs down to the dock where buffleheads, like bath toys, teeter on waves. Distant islands are in mirage. If only I could sense summer– whiff of salt, touch of hand to warm rock or to stand in the middle of a cloudless aquamarine summer […]
Mnemonic by Marjorie Mir
MNEMONIC “Fall back,” we tell ourselves, beginning the trek toward early dark, and we do, still do, coming from cold streets into lamplight, cupping a mug in both hands; limits, the comfort of habit, these are not yet taken from us, nor a darkness whose face is familial, winter that closes us in. Marjorie […]
September – Jan Bailey
SEPTEMBER And now the slow slide into autumn: the thinning crickets, the monarchs moving weightless among us like orange angels, the tight-lipped rose hips; the brown curl of aspen leaf, the bikes tossed willy-nilly on the schoolhouse lawn. Even the shadows slide, like blue cloaks about the apple trees. Now the mornings deepen; the meadow […]
Sea Change – Shirley Williams Homes
SEA CHANGE the summer house is life on a different plane old rules do not apply long days of idleness are not suspect an hour’s walk along the sand or the digging of clams for half a day are looked upon as industry to be applauded or disdained according to one’s view of life as […]
“Monhegan Winds” – Marjorie Mir
“Monhegan Winds” For Jim Guinness Jim’s music carries on its crest the day I first heard it blowing west through the Barnacle’s door. Listening […]
Capstan Chantey – Matt Williamson
CAPSTAN CHANTEY (after hours) memories gather thick and random no more welcome than gnats whirring over the moss on the fragrant hummock the old pine left in dying i […]
Dinner at Six, Monhegan House – RuthAnn Szostek
DINNER AT SIX, MONHEGAN HOUSE It became a memorable first gathering. Monhegan the meeting place, the group of four, old friends and new, together. A toast to making acquaintances and the good fortune of being on island. The time honored ritual of breaking bread, as conversation and wine flow through the evening. With fond memories, […]
The Ripening – Thais Gloor
The Ripening Oh, where’s the pail? No, the berry pail… Ah, there it is – Grab it and run The sun is high It is warm It is the end of July I am dreaming of pie! Toasty warm, fragrant delicious blueberry pie from my tasty warm fragrant delicious blueberry patch kind of day today […]
A Walk on Monhegan:an Excerpt – George Anthony
A Walk on Monhegan: an Excerpt The path opens to tote road leaving wood-dusk with the sweet odors of fir balsam and skunk cabbage. A wood-cock churrs. The village is washed and fragrant (fresh home-made bread and butter in the garden) The morning-glories and the lady of the morning […]
The View from Above: Monhegan House, 7 A.M.
The View from Above: Monhegan House, 7 A.M. Into the small frame, modest landscape of yellow garden hose, overturned red barrow, the settled gray of shingled houses, early lettuce bedded out, lilacs at crescendo, here she comes, trotting at a pony’s pace, a young girl in a striped knit cap, pom-pom bobbing on a […]
The First Long Nap I’ve Had in Years – Lauren Cerruto
THE FIRST LONG NAP I’VE HAD IN YEARS On the third floor of the Island Inn, a room no larger than a minute, the small bed filling the room, I lay down. White walls, the white of steamed milk, whiter trim on the window, its white shade half-closed, half-closed white curtain rippling. Me on the […]
In This Room – Lucia Weinhardt
IN THIS ROOM Waking to the peace of an untethered white light in the tiny room I’ll call my own for this […]
Monhegan Summer Day – Jim Stallings
MONHEGAN SUMMER DAY Reflections from the Pierce House Porch Primroses Chrysanthemums, Phlox Artemisia Marsh grass yellow, brown, green Swallows’ orange breasts, slate gray backs Seascapes Crashing surf Lobster traps Stacked five high Laundry on lines Graveyard stones Face the village and harbor From 18th century Brackett Pierce Trefethren Fir trees Starling Orne Wait staff time […]
A Summer Afternoon in the Black Duck – Matt Kiell
A SUMMER AFTERNOON IN THE BLACK DUCK (In Memory of Mandy) The cat wants in and The dog wants out A summer resident from Boston pops in to catch up The cat slips in but The dog curls up A day tripper from Kittery wants a cappuccino, sweet The dog finds her frisbee The cat […]
Hiking Monhegan – Susan Davis
HIKING MONHEGAN A deer trail tapers to a dead end. No view of the harbor, nor of the ocean. Such a small island, I must be somewhere. No map. Surrounded by tall pines and a soft carpet of brown needles. I’ve been lost in these woods before, following a thinning path as the thicket closed […]
Monhegan Trails – Susan Davis
MONHEGAN TRAILS Each year, the General Store sells a map marked in black dashes or solid, distinguishing ‘good’ from ‘fair’ to ‘poor’ trail, ‘moderate’ from ‘difficult’ path. I travel all the same, not judging flat, or steep and rocky, seeking the best place to view the horizon, never knowing what’s beyond the edge where the […]
Late Spring, Monhegan – Jenny Greenleaf
LATE SPRING, MONHEGAN Urgent old ferry girl. determined through the rollers hurled at her from Nova Scotia. Never ending engine drumbeats on, surging through suffocating fog. Holding the gunnels to feel your pulse– deliver me up to Monhegan. First step on is surrender. Second step on is the end of measured time. The innocence of […]
From Staithes, in Yorkshire – Larry Wilson
From Staithes, in Yorkshire so we have found a substitute, not quite perfection, just serene approximate not quite an island—not an isle at all unless one thinks of isolation as the definition. Hard to get there—isn’t that enough?—dense with evacuees from cities. Cliffs, and rock-pools, August light relentless, probing, honest, intimate the gulls scream day […]