Beyond the South End

Monhegan, Land of Atists

Island Inn, Monhegan, by Stan Moeller

There is a site called Monhegan.com I discovered yesterday when I was looking for work by Alonzo Gibbs. The site features works of art by the many artists who come to paint on the island. This poem by Gibbs was also posted recently. I invite you to visit the site to see some very nice works of art. Also look for more work by Gibbs later on in “On Being a Southender.”

A poem by Alonzo Gibbs, former resident of Bremen, Maine, now deceased. It’s possible this poem came from his book, Monhegan, which is now out of print. If you’ve ever been to the island, this description will look familiar to you.

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 still declare God’s glory:

distant waves

sounding for all the world

like wind in spruce tops,

sounding like the waves;

a smell of salt,

of drying fish-nets,

a sense of vast Atlantic reaches

under fixed or falling stars.

With flashlights lit,

we find our ways,

in all directions,

home.