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
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