Sneak Peek…New Poem

By Kendall Merriam

 

You’re seeing it here first, folks. Here’s a sneak peek of Kendall’s latest poem which he will be reciting at Whitehall Inn in Camden, Maine, tomorrow, August 29. Please call the Inn at 207-236-3391, for details. Whitehall Inn is where Edna St. Vincent Millay got her start. Born in Rockland, she grew up in Camden and became one of the most important poets in America and the world.

Look for a new blog spot for Kendall beginning next month.

 

WHY I AM FALLING DOWN THESE STAIRS

 

For Edna Saint Vincent Millay

 

As I am floating, wheeling

Down the Steeple stairs

You may wonder why

I am doing this to myself

I am not tired of living

In spite of being captured

By the morphine, booze

I am not ashamed of

What I have written

Even though my body

Was never electric

Had never traveled to Cathay

Some poems will live

My red hair will be remembered

As will my bewitching beauty

I was a star

First seen at Whitehall

1912

One poem the gate

To the Pulitzer

I have had a full life

Many loves, many loves

I defended Sacco and Vanzetti

With my strongest words

I challenged Hitler

And the harm done

To lovely old England

Its all there in my poem

“Conscientious Objector”

Shorn of rhyme

That so many

Newer, lesser poets

Dig my grave with

Perhaps I should

Have drifted out to sea

From my beloved island

Naked, giving my flesh

And bones

To that Atlantic

Which helped my recognition along

This is my intellectual birthday

So, I urge no poets to follow me

Live long, quiet lives

Get published if you can

But if not, be satisfied

With an honorable life

Stay away from the temptation

Of stairs

And live a pleasing life

As a part of an honest Universe

 

Kendall Merriam, Home, 8/27/12   3:44 AM

Listening to the creaking of my father’s table

Picnic at the Cottage

 

 

The last event of my vacation in Maine was a picnic some of the gang and I had at my Aunt Virginia's cottage in Spruce Head. It was a beautiful sunny day with the high tide coming in. Here's some pictures from that day. I apologize if I can't remember some of their married names.

 

 

 

Faye Molloy and the Childs' sisters, Barbara and Dottie.

 

 

Violet Karl and Sandra Zimmerman enjoy the sun on the front deck.

 

 

View from the front deck.

 

 

A redo of the cottage on the point across the cove was in progress.

 That's part of the roof in that pile.

 

 

Enjoying the sun with left to right:

Deanna Conary, myself, Violet and Sandra

 

 

Faye and Barbara pick some blackberries.

 

 

The view from "my chair" which I enjoyed every day.

 

 

The backside of the cottage where we set up the picnic table.

 

 

Sally Fowler talks to Violet and Sandra.

 

 

As they used to say in the old Courier: "A good time was had by all." Can't wait till next year, gang.

 

What I Did on My Vacation

 

If I were still in grammar school this would be my report as to my activities in the summer of 2012. Some of these items which I will star like this * will have their own separate stories. Look for them. I also have pictures and video I need to extract from my blackberry which may take a while. Please be patient.

While I was staying at my Aunt Virginia’s cottage in Spruce Head, I made a note or two every day so I could remember what to mention in this story. The first item on the list is blueberry pie which my neighbor next door to me on the island, Tom Budai, made and which I enjoyed immensely. I spent a fun evening in Tom and Suzanne’s rocking chair eating Tom’s pie. It was delicious. Thanks, Tom. Here’s a picture Tom took of me that evening.

 

 

I did get to eat some more of my favorite Maine foods while I was home like lobster over at sister-in-law, Kay’s house in Thomaston; an Italian sandwich; chocolate sugar covered doughnuts; a crabmeat roll down at the Keag store; and fried clams over at Moody’s with cousin, Mary Sue. I also picked some wild blackberries down at the cottage. They were all over the place and I enjoyed eating the big dish full I collected every morning with my breakfast. And don’t you know I gathered up several bags of good ole’ dry Maine beans and brown bread, which I sent back to Georgia along with the books I bought at the Island Bookstore in Spruce Head. Oh yes, I also hit up Wasses Wagon, for the best hot dogs in the world, two times.

I have birds and animals on that list too. I enjoyed watching the cormorants. Not sure if they were really but they sat out on the rocks and spread their wings to dry every day. I believe I also saw some osprey one day. There is said to be several nests in that area. Icabod the Crane, which is what we name every successive crane to come along over the years, came to visit a couple of times. I also enjoyed watching the antics of a bunch of ducks who were fishing in Seal Cove and the successive seagulls who were trying to steal their fish from them. One duck got the better of a seagull when it dove and came up under the seagull under the water. That guy all of a sudden flew straight up out of the water. It was quite comical to watch as it happened more than once. I also heard the sandpipers over on the beach to the right of my cottage. They come every year in August almost on schedule, like the famous swallows of Capistrano.

I also had daily visits from Lily, a spaniel from down the road at Snows. Sometimes her brother, Sam, came along with her. When their daddy goes out to haul every day, they roam the area and visit everybody. They are really sweet dogs.

It’s hard for me to get down over the rocks to wade in the water with my cane. Therefore I made a “walking stick” from the branch of a fallen spruce tree in the woods. However, I couldn’t get over to my favorite “beach glass” site, so I decided to gather up some dry periwinkles instead. I discovered that periwinkles are just like snowflakes; no two are alike. I did get to wade a couple of times which is something my doctor wants me to do to strengthen my legs. Lily stood up on the big rock we call the whale and watched me as if to say, “The water’s too cold. I’m not coming in there. What are you doing in there anyway?”

As for walking up and down that darn hill to get to the cottage, I have Tom and Suzanne to thank. They let me park over at their place so I could just walk through over to my place. It made it easier to carry stuff in and out too. Thanks, friends. Tom also retrieved a loose lobster buoy in the cove for me while he was out in his boat. I gave it to a friend of mine who is collecting them.

Some of things I got to do while I was home was:

Volunteer at the Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors Show*. I enjoyed watching the dogs perform at the Boatyard Dogs* event. I also met up with my friends Eleanor Richardson and Kendall Merriam, fellow southenders, who were signing books at the show. Here’s the poems Kendall wrote for me in his books I asked him to sign. For his poetry book, The Light Relaxes into Evening, “For Sandra S. Here on the edge of fog a southern Maineiac buys books of her homeland.” For his book, The Illustrated Dictionary of Lobstering, which I plan to make good use of: “For Sandra, a true Southender, but she has never eaten one lobster!”

Some other things I got to enjoy while home was the Class of 59’s monthly breakfast at the Brown Bag. Here’s a couple pictures from that day. We had about 20 people show up that day. I also met up with Don Pomroy and his lovely wife at the breakfast that day. He’s an old southender and a big fan of this blog. It was nice to see him.

 

 

Judy Post and I chatting at the Class of 59 breakfast at the Brown Bag.

 

Some of the gang at the Class breakfast left to right: Dottie, Lynda, Faye and Violet

I got to see two performances of the Mid Coast Community Band* in which sister-in-law, Kay, plays the tenor sax. Brother Harlan, her husband, also used to play in the band. Hearing them perform always makes me feel closer to him. Many other Sylvesters have at one time or another, played with that band too. This is the 25^th anniversary of that group. They have published a book as a fundraiser called “…And the Band Played On”. I urge you to purchase one from any band member to help support this great community band.

Another highlight of the trip was attendance at a Roller Derby match at the Rockport Recreational Center. Our very own Rock Coast Rollers* performed very well that night and I enjoyed the action immensely. The story on the Rock Coast Rollers has already appeared in the Member Story section of the Courier online. I’ll run it here also. I also ran into my Facebook friend, Tim Sullivan, while I was there. It was nice to meet him at last.

The last event of the summer was the picnic* I held for some friends down at the cottage. We had a wonderful time on a beautiful day in Maine.

So if you have been watching, here’s some other stories to look for: The Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors Show and the Boatyard Dogs; The Mid Coast Community Band; the Rock Coast Rollers; and the picnic at the cottage. I’ll try to get these stories all in by the end of the month. If not, look for them next month.

On the last night of my vacation at the cottage it was clear so I turned out all the lights in the house and did some serious star gazing out of the picture window. It’s a sight I don’t get to see here in Georgia with all the city lights. The stars were bright and awesome that night and I still hold that picture in my heart and will continue to do so until I can return to my beloved Maine.

Thanks for listening.

The Maine Report—2012

 

A front view of the cottage I stayed at while on vacation.
 I believe this was taken by niece, Brenda Peabody.

For my fellow expatriot Maineiacs, I once again make my yearly report of how things stand in the old home town of Rockland, Maine. If you haven’t been there in a while, you will find many changes.

This year my observations show me that the tourist season stayed about the same as last year. I went a little later this year, the week after the Festival, but there were still a fair amount of out-of-town people and “boat people” in evidence.

I volunteered this year at the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors show. The harbor was full of boats of all kinds, some belonging to the show and some to visitors to the show or other tourists’ boats. The rain didn’t stop the show from enjoying a full house of people every day of the three-day event.

In the old neighborhood of The South End, I took note of the big house, or as I’m told, apartment house, down at the junction of Ocean and Water Streets. There is also an experimental house I discovered which was featured at the Boat Show.

I heard disturbing news that there is a lot of drug activity in the South End. Well, I guess the rep of the old neighborhood continues in that case. However, drugs are never found in just one place these days. Every town in the country seems to be infested with the scourge of drugs. I suspect that you will find bad elements in other parts of the city too, unfortunately.

Local politics are gearing up for the next go-around of city officials. Will it be Brian Harding again or the upstart newcomer who owns and runs the Limerock Inn? The consensus is that if only the two run, the new guy may have a chance; but if three people run, Harding will most likely prevail via a split vote between the other two. We shall see.

I note with pleasure that my plea for more cell phone towers has been answered—well in part anyway. It seems that a new tower was erected in Port Clyde and another one is planned for the area. When I first arrived down at the cottage this year, I could use my T-Mobile Blackberry. Then towards the end of my visit, I could do nothing. When I returned to Georgia, it worked fine, however, today I noted that it isn’t holding a charge very long. Therefore, the problem is probably with my phone and not the absence of a nearby tower. Guess it’s up to see my phone man on Monday.

Another concern I had last year was the state of the roads in mid-coast Maine. Well guess what? The road to Spruce Head, Rt. 73, has been resurfaced. It now also sports a bright yellow line to follow and white lines on the sides. To us from away who are used to a lot of overhead lighting along our regular routes in the city, the addition of these lines is most helpful.

As for other traffic problems in the state, the Wiscasset jam still exists and probably will into infinity. There has to be some solution.

The weather was beautiful for most of the time while I was home which is a good advertisement for the area as a tourist mecca. I still love my Great State of Maine dearly and will always refer to Maine as “home” and a wonderful place to visit. I will continue to encourage people in these parts and across the country who I meet on Facebook daily, to come and enjoy our beautiful state.

That’s the report for this year.

 

The “Maine” Event

Was Mainly Fun

(This story also appears at the Courier online site under Member Story.)

The “Maine Event,” the last match of the year for the Rock Coast Rollers, our local Roller Derby team, was in fact “Mainly Fun” for those who came to watch them on August 18, at the Rockport Recreation Center.

I attended the match. It was the first time I have ever attended a Roller Derby event. Laurel Butler-Pierce, PR person for the group, and a skater as well, very graciously gave me VIP seats, including a special badge to wear.

 

It was a bit confusing when I checked in at the VIP table, and it was also confusing as to where VIP seating was; but that was mostly my fault because I was probably the last spectator to arrive at the rec center that night. A very nice gentleman did find me eventually and he found me a nice seat in the appropriate VIP section at the top of the oval right on the floor.

While I’m at it I must give props to the two parking attendants who found me a special spot close to the door because I was walking with my cane. Thanks, guys. I couldn’t have attended the match without your help.

This picture came from “the Scene” magazine for July 2012, which was available at the match and was also signed by three of the skaters on the front cover. As you can see, our team is ready and raring to go on another trip around the rink.

Roller Derby women always have such colorful nicknames. Here’s some of ours: Brawler D. Lite; Mistress of the Knife; RUde Beckla; Roll Doll; Sinner of Gravity; Scarina; Roto Tilda; January Jonesin; Hard Dash; Wheel Crazy; Chain Lynx; Ginny Wheelsley; Ice Cream Truck Full of Angry Bees; Booty Thrasher; Ivana Causepain; 59 Inch Nail (Laurel’s name); Atomic Mauly; Hedda Flame; Schrodinger’s Catfight; Dynamo Daisy; Bristol Smashin’; Sk8 Plisskin; Hurricane Bethany; Mad Madim Mim; Iron Orchid; Sookie Stacked; Oxidizer; VegeMighty Slamwitch; No Heart; Vengeful Vegan; Needle Stix; and Raging Dilemma.

 

As you can see in the picture, some of the skaters have some interesting body markings and colorful costumes. They were all distinctive in their own special ways.

I found the atmosphere corny but fun, almost like the old wrestling shows on TV and also the wrestling audiences I remember at TNN in Atlanta when I worked there years ago. They would fill our parking lot every time the wrestling show was aired. I also enjoyed the antics of the “Jeer Leaders” who kept us entertained in between breaks in the action. They even gave us signs to hold up.

I must admit I don’t understand all the rules of the game yet, but I did get the gist of how points were scored for each team. The announcer that night was very professional and very informative in that respect.

Don’t be fooled though. These women are serious and take their sport seriously. This team is an avocation for them as most have other jobs. They are good at what they do. I didn’t stay until the end of the second match that night; but they lost the first match against Bangor in a tight game and won the second match against Portland.

 

I would recommend a night out to see the Roller Derby to all you folks up in that area. They are the only professional team you have and as such they deserve to be supported by the community. In attendance that night I saw kids as young as eight or nine as well as senior citizens. It’s a fun night for the whole family on a summer evening. I look forward to the next season and hope I can catch another game when I come up on vacation.

Keep rolling, ladies!

 



Kendall Merriam,

South End Poet…Guest Blog

 

 

 

 Kendall Merriam was born and raised in Rockland, Maine. He has a history degree from Gordon College in Wenham, MA and graduate studies in military and maritime history at the University of Maine at Orono and Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Conn. He also received grants to study historical research at Colonial Williamsburg and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Merriam has been widely published, including in Katyn W Literaturze(Katyn in Literature), a Polish anthology of literary works about the WWII Katyn Forest Massacre by 120 international authors, including Czeslaw Milosz. Merriam has written more than twenty books and plays. Most of Merriam’s work has a definite muse – family, friends, and strangers – with life’s larger themes of work, love, loss and death. On April 29, 2010, Merriam was appointed Rockland, Maine’s Inaugural Poet Laureate, an honor from his hometown Merriam cherishes.

 

The Merriam boys grew up with my generation in the South End. In a recent communication with Kendall, he spoke about his routine “poetry delivery route” which he does once a week up along Main Street in Rockland. He said, “Today on my poetry route I passed out the very first poem I ever had published nearly 40 years ago. It is about Woody Post {a classmate and friend of mine}.”

 He attaches a note to his poetry deliveries and this last week he kindly mentioned my name. “Recently I have had some pain in my right shoulder and my physical therapist has me doing exercises. She also suggested that I walk two miles three or four times a week. That is about the length of my poetry route if I start walking from home on Mechanic Street in the South End--a place that fellow writer, Sandra Sylvester, has made well known in her book, THE SOUTH END, and on her blog.”

 

 

 He describes the following poem as his most important work and very much wanted to share it with you. Thanks, Kendall.

 

THE FLAG OF A NEW NATION

                            

                             For Liz

 

                             Wouldn’t it be great

                             If we could take the colors

                             Of this $6.46 meal

                             Pale green soup

                             Yellow corn muffin

                             Cream-colored soy milk

                             Rich brown lemon splash tea (iced)

                             And make a new flag

                             Without those symbols of war

                             Reds, blues and stars

                             A nation that does not march

                             Into wasting battle

                             We could buy billions of pencils

                             For scholars around the world

                             Pay $6.00 fees for school uniforms

                             Made of cotton—not Kevlar

                             We would appoint you

                             Chef-in Chief

                             Far more important than President

                             Or Sec Def

                             You would be able to feed the world

                             The most important thing

                             Teaching everyone to read and write

                             Poetry, stories, plays

                             About real things

                             The goodness of soup, the goodness of bread

                             No marching in military parades

                             Just parades of characters from books

                             Made with imagination and papier-mâché

                             Saying “Support Our Cooks”

                             Instead of “Support Our Troops”

                             If we hung around restaurants and cafes

                             Eating and sipping

                             Instead of shooting in Afghanistan and Iraq

                             Or on those “War Breeders”

                             Deadly computer games

                             That kill the minds of the young

                             When they should be climbing ledges

                             Along the shore of Owls Head

                             Or looking for sea glass on Dick’s Beach

                             Killing one man woman

                             Kills two souls

                             The victim, the shooter

                             It is not part of God’s plan

                             Metal is for jewelry

                             And automobiles (bright yellow of course)

                             Not for bullets, planes, bombs

                             Life could be so good

                             We have the resources

                             We have the talent

                             Why is the boat drifting so badly?

                             What is this desire for power

                             Does it make one live longer

                             I think not

                             It is much more pleasant

                             To sit in the Hardcover Café’

                             Hear confident voices

                             See interesting and attractive people

                             Why do the Big Shots

                             Of Beijing, Washington, Delhi and Moscow

                             Think evil, harm people

                             You know, Liz

                             Jefferson would say we need

                             A revolution

                             I think you have a better idea

                             No one could fire a gun

                             While eating your delicious soup

                             And corn muffins, casually sipping tea

                             If we could get the warriors of the world

                             In here, relaxing for a change

                             Maybe we would make the world

                             Safe for vichyssoise

                             All of us would feel better

                             Read books outdoors

                             And put away guns forever

 

            Kendall A. Merriam   July 2007  At  the Hardcover Café’,   Rockland, Maine

 

Irish Music at the Museum

August 24, 7:30 pm

Gabriel Donohue, Marian Makins, Michael Fitzpatrick

Tickets $15, call 207-701-7627

 

 

 

 

From http://blog.mainefoodandlifestyle.com--August 5, 2012

Lobster Festival Seafood Cooking Contest 2012 Finalist: Allison Stratis

Allison Stratis of Scarbourough, ME, impressed judges at this year’s Maine Lobster Festival Seafood Cooking Contest with her recipe for Maine Lobster and Shrimp Summer Rolls. She received this year’s second place prize.

Allison Stratis being interviewed by Mistress of Ceremonies, Louise MacLellan

Take Allison’s spring rolls to your next party!

Maine Lobster and Shrimp Summer Rolls
Allison Stratis, Scarborough







1/2 pound fresh Maine lobster meat (I like to use whole claw meat)
20 fresh (frozen) Maine shrimp
1 ripe avocado
4 spring roll wrappers (rice pancakes)
1 pack bean thread noodles (comes in three pack, use one section)
12 large basil leaves
1 cup shredded iceburg lettuce
1/4 cup sweet chile sauce

Cook noodles according to package; cool. Chop lobster into small bite size pieces or leave whole if using claws. Cut avocado into slices.

Assemble all the ingredients in front of two plates. Take one spring roll wrapper and run under warm water until soft. Lay flat on one plate. At top of wrapper, place line of lobster meat, on top lay 5 shrimp, 3 basil leaves, 1/4 cup lettuce, 2-3 slices avocado and 1/4 cup noodles.

Starting at top of wrapper roll forward once, then fold up both ends and continue rolling until tight (like rolling a burrito). Place on other plate and repeat process until all 4 rolls are done.

Cut rolls in half and place on serving dish with sweet chile sauce and spoon. Eat and enjoy! Yum!

Appetizer serves 4-8.

Melanie Hyatt is the editor of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.