Maine

TheFeatheredSleep

I meant to make it all the way to Maine
Rachel Carson wasn’t silent and Spring late in coming, bowed to snowstorm
It was my intention to honor her gain
against the shoreline whisky
watching puffins cast their rainbow beaks into plump flipper against whitening ravage

Southwest Airlines, didn’t clean their luncheon trays or provide succor for thin air
even liquid diets can give you Noro viruses if they’re in the mood
I didn’t make it to Maine, head down a witches bowl beset the route
Salem, swallowed me whole
all the girls I didn’t know, made rings around my posie
And orange muffins (who puts oranges in muffins? The black eyed tobacco doll?) 

the compassionate Russian doctor at the Ready Clinic gave me a yellow bottle, not the best color choice, to keep from retching

She said, spend your thirties on a cruise ship, I fell In love with the ocean, and the lonely women casting their nets, and she gave me a deep wink, collegial and far from coy,  who knew tucked In CVS lay Friends Of Dorothy?
In truth it was the itinerary of a coward
seeking impossible retreat
for she who doesn’t like socializing, will never marry and make content a popularist
or name a pond, or build a thatch or blow down their tindered heart like a stale match
It doesn’t hurt on occasion, to be kicked about like a straw stuffed doll
or ignored on the shelf, when reluctance
bids you leave
the party for a long and wounded road
made cool with first snow, faintly storing fantasy
of Maine and the green and the green and the green

44 thoughts on “Maine”

  1. Have you been ill dear Candice?? or is this a muse.. Sending love out across this ocean.. that if you were, that you soon feel well.
    Love and warm hugs.. Sue ❤

  2. I was sick when I was traveling – typical! I got the Noro virus on the plane to New England and was basically throwing up for a few days, but it turned out okay. I try to see the humor in it! (TRY!) thank you dearest one! Hugs back xo

  3. That is a horrid virus to get… Sorry you had to suffer that.. But glad you now see the humorous side… Its always good to learn to laugh at ourselves.. at least TRY.. LOL.. Much Love and send you healing energy thoughts xxx ❤

  6. I’m reading a book about four women who get lost in the wilderness of Maine, so perhaps it’s good you didn’t get there. 😉
    Excellent poem, Candice! That virus has been kicking us hard in the Northeast this winter.

  7. ha ha ha ! Oh dear! I am glad then! What’s it called? Is it good? I just got through re-reading Hotel New Hampshire! I think it’s hit us really hard here in TX also – crazy non? I picked it up on the plane, which was DIRTY as all get out, and got sick the first day of the trip, blah! But I got to touch snow so no complaints 😉 (I did time it inadvertantly with the snow storm, whoops!)

  8. Planes are horrible for germs. I wipe everything down but my son has a peanut allergy so we board early to do that. But even still, it’s a good idea if you don’t mind looking crazy, ha. The book is called The River at Night. It’s really good. By a local author.
    And snow is overrated. 😉

  9. Not for those stuck in TX where the only season is TOO HOT 😉 (I know what you mean though, was in Canada a year, got very strong forearms from snow shoveling!) xo xo (glad you are able to pre-board for that reason, so important especially with allergies)

  10. Ha ha, yes. I grew up in AZ so I know just what you mean. The snow was nice for a while but not for the last 18 or so years, lol.

  13. True. Having all seasons is best. Living somewhere that has no seasons like AZ or TX can be boring but I can also see why people are moving here, mostly from the East Coast, because they don’t want to deal with the unpredictable, and we are anything but that. I didn’t know you grew up in AZ that’s a big change, do you miss it or not so much? I like AZ for the most part it’s very beautiful but I think I would burn to a crisp if I lived there!

  14. Yes, I really like the seasons even though winter isn’t my favorite. I don’t miss AZ too much. The scenery, definitely. The skies are beautiful and the mountains. I miss that but I’m happier on this coast. My allergies definitely do better over there in the dry air though!

  17. Seriously it was hilarious, she was Russian (great start to any story) and she totally came on to me which made me LAUGH because I looked like special hot rubbish that day having had my head down the loo all night (and don’t get me started on my theory that I was hexed in Salem, I really believe this mind you …) and she was all going on about how I should give up everything and join a cruise line and travel the world it was SO surreal and hilarious, and she was actually a better doctor than my own here in SA. I tell ya, truth is stranger than fiction could EVER be.

  19. The allergies in SA are awful, I never had them before I moved here. I always wondered if they were bad in AZ. I don’t like how racist it can be in AZ but I know not everyone is like that, just a few, and I couldn’t handle the heat, but the sunsets and desert take my breath away. I’d live on the coast in a hot minute if I could afford it though!

  20. Salem definitely has a creepy vibe. I mean, you walk down those streets and you can feel it.

  21. I think they are different because different stuff grows. My allergies are to dust and mold. Mold is way worse in damp climates so it’s worse out here. Last time I was in AZ I was like, wow I can breathe!! I hate AZ politics. It’s a shitty state for that. But yes, sunsets esp are sublime.

  23. Whatever theory about being hexed in Salem you got, I believe already!
    And I love that story! You’re right that truth is usually stranger than fiction! That’s why the very little fiction I write is peppered with true moments. Maybe also why I’m way better at non fiction…

  24. Sis, I just read Sue’s first comment. Are you okay? How did you get a virus?
    I can see from your writing, you’ve made a sense of humor out of your travel of what you made of it.

    Hope you are well and everything is okay. 🙂

  25. From traveling I think I contracted it on the plane got sick a few hours later, there were a lot of sick people so not surprised it didn’t last long though but it was awful, thanks for caring, I feel fine now, hope you are okay, sending you a big hug, you have to laugh don’t you?

  26. I shit you not. You should have seen the place I was in, and the midnight madness, it was crazy, I still am unable to believe it, yet there are no good explanations. You’re right – non fiction is more fun in that sense, putting a spin on something that DID happen is hilarious and actually hard work

  28. I’m allergic to mold and weirdly it is pretty common here even though it hardly rains, WTF? Yeah it’s a shitty state for politics but TX is also, and used to be sooo liberal (anne richards days) and has gone madly the other way.

  39. That’s too bad. You’d think you’d get a reprieve from that allergy. I know some people in TX that are somehow super liberal about civil rights etc but super conservative about everything else. I don’t know…

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