Beyond the South End

Kendall Merriam

South End Poet

 



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 TEMPLE OF WISDOM

(For the Staff of China Coast)

 

I have heard that poetry

written in a restaurant in China

is a blessing for the poet

and the staff alike

both benefitting from good words

and good food

it is quiet in mid-afternoon

people contemplating a big supper

while I need energy

to write this and other poems

I have to confess

I love two men – Li Bai and Du Fu

for their poetry

of the T’ang Dynasty

it gives me great peace

in my heart

this place is as close to them

as I can get in my hometown Rockland

where some day

1,000 poets will arrive

 

Kendall Merriam, Inaugural Poet Laureate of Rockland, ME

At China Coast Restaurant   29 September 2012    4:08 PM

Listening to the clearing up before dinner

 

THE WORN DOWN TOOTH OF A MOUNTAIN

                       

                                    For Phyllis

 

                                    High blue water

                                    Haze over the far islands

                                    Strong breeze

                                    Still enough sun

                                    To keep us warm

                                    Hundreds of people

                                    From all the ancient countries

                                    Did my cousin write from here

                                    How did she carry ink and pen

                                    Before the invention of ballpoints

                                    Or did she visit

                                    So many times

                                    That the poem

                                    Was in her heart

                                    Long before she wrote it

                                    In whatever house

                                    Her mother could provide

                                    I, being a man, am afraid

                                    Of giant heights

                                    Fear of jumping out and down

                                    Phyllis climbs the tower

                                    Stands gazing

                                    Across God’s long handiwork

                                    Penobscot Bay, Camden Harbor

                                    With great joy

                                    Never thinking this would be hers

 

                                    Kendall Merriam, on Mt. Battie,

                                    September 25, 2012  3:42 PM

                                    Listening to mountain people & the wind