Sheila Nickerson
At Hannah’s Wedding: September, Cama Beach State Park
In the open space between beach and woods
there were no reserved seats.
God could sit anywhere and so could we:
a thoroughly democratic ceremony
with Saratoga Passage as a backdrop--
water, waves, and gulls all free;
and the sun sat down beside us,
an overweight uncle following us
out after the words were said,
then wandering off among the other guests.
I will remember, Hannah, the letters
from family and friends read
aloud instead of Epistles and
stories told instead of Gospels,
and how the sea with all its tongues
rolled in to say, “It’s done. It’s done.”
On the History of Gardens
When vegetables were young
and gods were everywhere,
there was no need for fame
or names. Then came Latin,
the disciplinarian,
training beets and leeks
to stand in line, heads
down, each class by itself.
Next came Art, dark
with Madonnas of chard
and tears and we forgot
how peas and parsley
once walked leaf in leaf
through open garden gates
and lettuces lay down with squash.
Sheila Nickerson is a former Poet Laureate of Alaska, her most recent publication is HARNESSED TO THE POLE: SLEDGE DOGS IN SERVICE TO AMERICAN EXPLORERS OF THE ARCTIC, 1853-1909.
Return to March 2016 Edition
In the open space between beach and woods
there were no reserved seats.
God could sit anywhere and so could we:
a thoroughly democratic ceremony
with Saratoga Passage as a backdrop--
water, waves, and gulls all free;
and the sun sat down beside us,
an overweight uncle following us
out after the words were said,
then wandering off among the other guests.
I will remember, Hannah, the letters
from family and friends read
aloud instead of Epistles and
stories told instead of Gospels,
and how the sea with all its tongues
rolled in to say, “It’s done. It’s done.”
On the History of Gardens
When vegetables were young
and gods were everywhere,
there was no need for fame
or names. Then came Latin,
the disciplinarian,
training beets and leeks
to stand in line, heads
down, each class by itself.
Next came Art, dark
with Madonnas of chard
and tears and we forgot
how peas and parsley
once walked leaf in leaf
through open garden gates
and lettuces lay down with squash.
Sheila Nickerson is a former Poet Laureate of Alaska, her most recent publication is HARNESSED TO THE POLE: SLEDGE DOGS IN SERVICE TO AMERICAN EXPLORERS OF THE ARCTIC, 1853-1909.
Return to March 2016 Edition