By the Taiya River by Penelope Moffet I let the wind blow through me where alder and willow grow in sandy soil, where light green cottonwood leaves vibrate against the darker greens of spruce and hemlock. Stones pummeled by the river, some white flecked with black, some orange or gray or brown, some round, someContinue reading “By the Taiya River by Penelope Moffet”
Tag Archives: vacations
Hamlin Lake, Michigan, 1940s by Joan Colby
Hamlin Lake, Michigan, 1940sby Joan Colby A smell of damp, of mildewPermeated the cottage, lakeside,Built of simple unfinished planks,Nothing polished or complicated,Floorboards, thin wallsSo every conversation could be overheard. A red pump by the chipped sinkThat groaned to expel tinged water.A woodstove my mother cursedAs we stood dripping from our lake bathsHolding bars of Ivory,Continue reading “Hamlin Lake, Michigan, 1940s by Joan Colby”
Gjirokastër Stroll by Norma Wightman
Gjirokastër Stroll by Norma Wightman Workmen hammer the limestone chunks, fitting them tightly into a new walkway. Wheelbarrows of stone and sand stand helter-skelter among workmen as they bend to their labors. They scarcely take notice as tourists weave around the construction to reach shops beckoning with carpets, crochet work, and carvings. I watch theContinue reading “Gjirokastër Stroll by Norma Wightman”
Remembering to Ask by Carolyn Chilton Casas
Remembering to Ask by Carolyn Chilton Casas Returning to Arcos de la Frontera, after driving through white hill towns of southern Spain— Ubrique, Grazalema, silent for siesta Zahara de la Sierra, it is dusk as we enter the city gates. Winding streets coil back and forth around the city’s hillside. Most barely allow one-way passage,Continue reading “Remembering to Ask by Carolyn Chilton Casas”
Carolyn Chilton Casas, The Beating of Drums
The Beating of Drums by Carolyn Chilton Casas At the pousada pequena in a tropic beach town, fatigued from too many hours of travel, we were concerned when asked to leave our key hanging on the reception wall. We had read State Department warnings for tourists traveling to this area, heard rumors to be careful,Continue reading “Carolyn Chilton Casas, The Beating of Drums”
Volcano Park by Ed Meek
Volcano Park by Ed Meek In case you forgot what burns beneath the surface of the earth, pay a visit to Pele, goddess of the volcano, on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi where a fire river of lava tunnels through molten rock. You can catch Kīlauea flow— luminous at night— from black pahoehoe cliffs thatContinue reading “Volcano Park by Ed Meek”
Threshing by Ed Ruzicka
Threshingby Ed Ruzicka Leoncio wakes me before sixso we can march down to the next town.I am to drive the Datsun that is kept there in a cousin’s garage.I have been trying to teach Leonciohow to drive but it is terrifying. So many pile onto, lean off, the pickup’s bedthat I can hardly see outContinue reading “Threshing by Ed Ruzicka”
Slieve League by Christine Gelineau
Slieve LeagueCounty Donegal, Irelandby Christine Gelineau Cliffs draw us, as margins must: that limitless curiosity limits excite.It’s exactly the 600 meters of granite verticality that insinuates closer, let me show you. Our thirst for clarity runs that deep.The glittering little lake at Bunglass Point observes unblinking as tourists and family groups head off along theContinue reading “Slieve League by Christine Gelineau”
Pawleys Island by David Bachner
Pawleys Islandby David Bachner Traveling north, up from Saint Augustine and Savannah,I stop for the night at Pawleys Island, the South Carolinaresort community where my in-laws used to rent a beachhouse for a week every summer. I look out over the sea,remembering a day nearly forty years ago. The beach and the weather are perfectContinue reading “Pawleys Island by David Bachner”
Wambaw Creek by Krikor Der Hohannesian
Wambaw Creek Santee River Delta, South Carolinaby Krikor Der Hohannesian draped over the knobby kneeof a majestic cypress,a cotton-mouth dozeswrapped in a blanketof cozy April sunshine astride the far bank a young doehesitates, eyes us warily, spindlylegs on tremulous alert, nostrils flared,before bounding off apacethrough theContinue reading “Wambaw Creek by Krikor Der Hohannesian”
POETRY and PLACES 