TALISMAN  The rough rock path Worn to a V by worshipful throngs Meanders like confused pilgrims Over this fragile island face.  As I trace the way, I meet them– Fellow-seekers, and nod My head in recognition. I see the peaceful pleasure in them That I searched for, found, And hold again.  Holy touchstone, worry rock, […]

SUNDAY SERVICE                              The road shaped to a slope divides.  Monhegan House, Trailing Yew, Mrs. Cundy’s Cottage- windows over walls of darkened roses.  We step from church into our galaxy, which here includes the scattered lamps of town. Our unspoiled night can […]

Blessings Barefoot and hair unbound. in cotton gown I lean against the wood frame of my door and watch the day bleed down to fill the wine-tinged sea I close the door. Now in my room and my small bed, I turn toward sleep. Above my roof, darkness moves in to mingle with the darkened […]

  Supper  for Emma                                                        This evening, trees outside yellowing to winter, inside, the ceiling lamp lit against too-early dark, round table with papers pushed aside to make room […]

VILLANELLE: LOOKING WESTWARD FROM A DISTANT SHORE  I have tried to find another island like you, but such remote and satisfying solitude is rare: windswept timeless rock in blue  bright ocean. I had assumed that the U. K. would be made up of nothing but islands, where I could try (and have tried) to find […]

COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN: AN EXCERPT She’s there at the dock holding his child  an infant. He squats on the deck in a clammy fog touching his beard with wet fingers. She’s pale. They’re Bible people.       grace and peace be multiplied       cast your care  the sea seeketh whom       it may devour Coming in over the shoals and […]

CANADA GOOSE  All alone on the black ice pond, long arched neck, banded cheek, the Canada Goose turns his back as I pull my way from the woods, then swings half circle to face me.  I feel noisy in my best silence, a clumsy oaf in red down coat, boots, silly snowflake hat, and, though […]

PUMPKINS ON PORCH STEPS A striking contrast! Surrounded by tones of white, gray and brown, these seven orbs, in shades of orange, pumpkins simply displayed, with bright autumn sun casting shadows, they sit, amid defined lines of island cottage porch and steps.  They prompt a recollection  of autumn days going back to childhood, landscapes of […]

MONHEGAN AUTUMN The air is cooler now, And summer’s search for Frantic pleasures has slowed To heavier clothing, more gulls, And shorter days, In our little splash of time. The mists are bathed in Golden fall glory, so Except for the coming season, Nothing much has changed: Art and beauty remain constant, As do the […]

LADY ON THE BOAT WITH FLOWERS   The October sea is rolling and the Laura B backs away, full power astern, then swings around. On deck is a white-haired lady with flowers.  The summer waitstaff sailed out on an earlier boat among friends waving wildly from the shore. They scattered flowers over the rail to […]

Wind After Storm The wind tears at the shutters And rattles the doors. The wind converses in many voices, Low and reverberant. The wind tosses the crows Up the incandescent sky. The gull teeters on the cliff’s edge And plunges into the wind Which bears it away. The wind polishes the day And dries the […]

PEBBLE BEACH 2010 The pebbles are still here, of course, Piled up as they have been for eons- Stone against enormous stone Heaped on the edge of the world.   I like to think that giants once played ball with these rocks           or marbles, or bowling-         […]

LAST DAY ON MONHEGAN Columbus Day, 2002   The mist dribbles down, heavy with salt stirred around by wind from the East scooped up from spray on White Head, Black, Burnt Head and Lobster Cove. Surf explodes skyhigh like geysers  with shuddering, thunderous terror. A child and her father run down the road in haste […]

  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 […]

SIX KNOTS TIED ON PULPIT ROCK (A Painter Observes…Then Paints) 1) What is this isolation That he feels? Alone He sits upon this rock And conducts communion With song birds perched On thorny branches Singing plaintive songs That carry past the trees.   2) What is this isolation That he alone feels? Are these clouds […]

                                          Communion  I am the tuck of turquoise water. the slap of spray on ocean rocks. I am the boat, the effort of her engines, the voice of the captain pointing out the woman whipped against […]

THEN AND NOW Four years since fog and roses. So much to take in, as I set off on the road, barely making it to Carina, once the first stop. Sinking to a bench, still smiling, greeting old friends, arranging for provisions, the temporary relief from pain passing for contentment. Yearning pulls me up and […]

I dream of my return to that place: dusty roads, cliffs that for just a moment make you believe you can fly, and fog weaving between tall trees. In my dreams I sneak between weathered cottages and boathouses and pick my way through strands of retired lobster buoys until at last, the little harbor reveals […]

TWO FOGGED-IN FRIENDS WITH DIFFERING ATTITUDES “Damn, when will this fog bank lift so we can see something, the Lighthouse perhaps, which I know is up there on that hill, which I can’t see  either, or at least the cupola on the Island Inn or the boats bobbing in the harbor?” “Look! Five minutes ago […]

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 toasty warm, fragrant, delicious blueberry patch kind of day today […]