Produced by Dennis Camire

This week’s poem is by Jenny Doughty of Portland.

A Maine litany

By Jenny Doughty

Praise tree-clad islands out in Casco Bay
that look like single pendant emeralds
strewn carelessly across a silver tray.

Praise lichened boulders shouldering the shore,
and sea-scoured pebbles ready to the hand
to skim the waves. Praise beaches even more.

Praise the slow dance a lobster boatman makes
round buoys, praise scallopers and shrimpers
and folk who dig our clams up with their rakes.

Praise hydroelectric plants, praise honeybees,
praise moose and deer, and salmon in the falls,
wild blueberries, white pine and chickadees.

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At all the stages of their lives praise trees:
the winter bare, the budbreaks in the spring,
the summer full, the fall-fire of the leaves.

Praise foresters that turn the great north woods
to raw materials for lumber yards
and those who plant more trees for future good.

Praise tourists and their money flowing in,
praise even more the quiet when they go
and we have Maine all to ourselves again.

Dennis Camire can be reached at dcamire@cmcc.edu


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