Memoirous

What does it mean to travel and come home— To feel your gypsy blood stirred To understand a little bit of what it’s like For the ocean to swallow the moon The highway holds me, calls me And I followed wherever it leads I am no braver than you It’s just that curiosity overcame fear Yet, I amaze myself! The miracles wrought by these middle-aged bones Long, steady climbs, map-reading Flat-fixing, chowder slurping—skills! Each day I faced the world, unknown I can do this, I reminded myself, maybe I’m out to find midnight, constellations Spread out across the sky, quiet bays I had no idea I’d meet a fisherman, A lady selling blueberry ice cream A tree with a huge burr, a fairy table Fellow travelers waiting at the dock. Together and alone, strangers and friends We plied the open road It’s not about certainty, getting there If only to say I did it, and would do it again.

Route (maybe) Wednesday, June 14 15:08 (3:08 pm) Halifax  Thursday, June 15 Halifax Via Lighthouse Trail Via Peggy’s Cove Friday, June 16 Graves Island ) via Chester Connection Trail Saturday, June 17 Ovens Natural Park Via Lunenburg Via Blue Rocks Via Mason Beach Sunday, June 18 Ovens Natural Park to Port Mouton Hostel Includes a ferry (53.6 miles) via NS-331 and Lighthouse Rte Monday, June 19 Port Mouton Hostel to Cape Sable Island (59.2 miles) via NS-103 W and Nova Scotia Trunk 3 W lunch Shelburne Tuesday, June 20 Cape Sable Island to Yarmouth via Shelburne County Rail Trail and Yarmouth County Rail Trail Wednesday, June 21 Yarmouth to Digby via Evangeline Trail/Nova Scotia Trunk 1 E and NS-101 E Thursday, June 22 Digby to St. Johns, NB to New River Provincial 11 a.m. ferry 30 miles Friday, June 23 Extra day New River Provincial Exploring Bay of Fundy Saturday, June 24 New River Provincial Park to  St. Brendan's Retreat Center, Dennysville, ME Mon...

Because I’m trying to read authors from Maine see Artweek, I stumbled upon an old copy of Country Byways by Sarah Orne Jewett published 1881. I’d read a long time ago Country of the Pointed Firs so I was familiar with Jewett. She has a very interesting personal history and is recognized as an outstanding regional writer, though lately her work has not received a lot of interest. Byways according to Wiki is described as “sketches.” Again, I was familiar with this term. Louisa May Alcott wrote Hospital Sketches (1863) about her experience working as a Union nurse during the Civil War. Her literary hero, Charles Dickens wrote Sketches by Boz (1839). Sketches to me seem like an early form of blog posts. From Wiki: A   sketch story,   literary sketch   or simply   sketch , is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a   short story , and contains very little, if any,   plot . The genre was invented in the   16th century   in England...

Again following in my theme of all things Maine and New York School of Poetry-ish and memoir, haiku prose, flash. All this to say: I’ve been reading the poems of Anne Porter. Her first collection, An Altogether Different Language (1994), published when she was 83, was named a finalist for the National Book Award. Her other volume of poetry is Living Things: Collected Poems (2006). I was struck upon beginning this collection how many of her poems seem to be reminisces. In deed, she lived a long life, passing away in 2011 just shy of 100 th birthday. A number of her poems begin with the word once . The Wingéd Children Once when my friends Were driving through the desert In Mexico They passed a pickup truck And in the back of it Each with a pair of wings Of sky-blue plush Such as is used For making bedroom-slippers There rode a dozen little Mexican children. In addition she began a series of poems with This is . Summer Cottage This...

Marsden Hartley: The Biography of an American Painter Townsend Ludington Lately I’ve been reading about Maine authors and painters ( see Great Spruce Head Island, see Art Week!). Actually I’ve always had an interest in Marsden Hartley. Ever since I saw this painting at the Art Institute of Chicago, where I was simply drawn in. It is in the same gallery as Night Hawk and Georgia O’Keefe, whose subject matter is somewhat similar. There was something about Cash Entry Mines, New Mexico , 1920 that spoke to me. Maybe it was how big nature is or the color palette: dun, washed red, faded black lines, sand colors. We can never know exactly what will touch us, but I suspect it has to do with peace. I bought at a library sale a monograph about Hartley and I learned that while living one summer in Nova Scotia with a local family the family lost 2 sons and another family member. Their boat was caught in a storm and the lads were lost at sea. This was devastating not only...