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 Starling Orne

Wait staff time off
Sitting out in sun
Drinking beer
Smoking cigarettes
Island guy in truck stops
Dog in front seat

Gray house white trim
Columbine
Fir trees blue shadows

Beatles’ Let it Be
On radio from Carina
Young girl at counter
Face looming in shadows
Time food love beauty
Clerks take imprisonment well

Twittering swallows over grasses
Red wing blackbird
Fluttering in grasses

After a roll
In dirt on road
Working cat
Slipping into marsh

Starfish bleached white
Sun setting
Deep purple cool
On Monhegan
Sweet night falls

Jim Stallings