Paumanok
after Mardsen Hartley
Linda Trott Dickman
diving
south
east
of
the bulk,
too
close to the lure,
a
fish separated
from
the school there trod
the
good gray poet
trailing
through leaves
of
grass leaving large
impressions
a goodly way to follow
the
child chased
the
tides, sucked the salt from her hair
was
snatched from the jaws
of
undertow by her hero.
she
learned to drape herself, like a jig,
feathers
catching
more
than light. a kaleidoscope for a lens,
she
explored houses of light, learned
the
strokes, the songs.
shores
frilled like a collar
of
green in scrub pine, beach plum
at
the north, sandy marsh for a hem.
reeds,
the wind section
of
the rolling
music
of the sea, the pines
singing
high
over
the storms
rivers
wound their way
from
headwaters to mouths
showing
the riches
of
their banks
suffering
from
the wounds
of
the greedy
gouging,
her
from
pectoral fin
to pelvic
gasping for
air still.
'Paumanok' by Linda Trott Dickman.
Published with author's permission.
Linda introduced herself: "Linda Trott Dickman has been making poetry since her early days at sleep away camp. She grew up here on Long Island and is a school librarian who has just earned her MFA from Adelphi University. This poem was born in a workshop in Maine with poet Kathleen Ellis. Our subject? Island Poetry."
Brilliant.
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