Kendall Merriam: ‘Matinicus, mon amour’
For Nellie and Eva
Could any land be farther out?
life there can be hot and lusty
full range of emotions
from Dreamy Ames serving lobster on a string
to high action
a world encapsulated
on a few hundred acres
Maine knows the most important beast
little green-shelled beasts
demanding the best in boats, bait and high endeavor
otherwise, who could live there
except for a few summer cottages
a land that knows both rum with beer chasers
pulled chilled from lobster cars
to gentle ministrations of the Sunbeam
Does God love the fishermen?
they are strong in their struggles with the sea
always handy with a joke
women of the island
fill all the crevices of rock, cobble and grass
with love and understanding
the coast is not always an easy place
Matinicus seems more isolated
more complicated than most
many of her children move on
after eighth grade
thinking of the smell of the sea
sound of wind and water
before they sleep on the mainland
now with the price so low
will the economy of the wild catches
force a breakup of lineages
so long clinging to that small earth
so small in the vastness of the Atlantic
a vision of men and women struggling
with the elements, space and time
also finding great enjoyment
in the raw but sublime beauty
when we here on the shore
experience fifty knot winds
cannot sleep for the easterly howling
nothing compared to islanders’ needs
a boat, a building, a life could be lost
cutting off livelihood
that has to be nursed along even in best weather
I’ve only been to the little holy spot once, age ten
for beans and quilt raffles
all the way home the water was firing
expressing the best Neptune could offer
from the path of the seas from Matinicus, mon amour
Kendall Merriam, Poet Laureate of Rockland, Maine
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