Day: June 3, 2012

When I Visit The Docks at Night

 

When I visit the docks at night I enter a mystical realm;

what’s familiar in the daylight becomes a stage for a

pageant  from another age –a reminder of what has been

and a plea from the past for us not to forget.

 

Work for the day has ended, the docks are empty.

The boats are all secured and the gulls are quiet.

It’s night and our vision is limited, but small sounds,

as from an unseen wind chime, render accompaniment.

 

The stage is set as the yellow glare from the tethered boats

is diffused in the mist that has descended across the harbor.

It offers a comforting aura to an audience of one

and a mellow atmosphere that softens the chill night air.

 

At night in the shadows cast by the pilings and the rigging

and the nearby buildings on the wharf, unseen and unheard,

I listen to the hubbub of the ancient crews as they gather

on these docks to lay in stores and ice and their very lives.

 

I see their dories nested on deck, the trawl tubs loaded

and the buoys and anchors assembled.

They await their voyage to the Banks and their

deployment at the proper time and place.

 

I see hope in those faces that their dories may

be filled with hundreds of thousands of pounds

of fish; that their payday is generous and their

return to this good port is swift and safe.

 

And, as I listen and watch this pageant unfold,

my wish is that all those whose voices I hear

and whose faces I see and whose hopes  I feel, will return

to perform for me when I again visit the docks at night.

 

© Marty Luster 2012

Roger Gould is a FOB who has been living in Gloucester for 12 years and came to his first Mug Up this morning.  Not only did he get to meet a bunch of the GMG crew and have great coffee and low cal deviled eggs, he also scores having the opportunity to represent flanked by two lovely Rocky Neck artists. 

On his left:  Ekaterina Smirnova, a Brooklyn based artist who started painting in a russian art school in Siberia in 1991. Her style has been further developed at The Art Students League of New York, where Ekaterina has been a member since first moving to the United States in 2006. Watercolor, her main media, and etchings are often exhibited at art shows around New York and the Northeast. In the past 3 years, Ekaterina has received various awards in juried shows including from The Salmagundi Club and Allied Artists of America. Currently she getting ready for her Solo show at the Adirondack Lakes Art Center, NY and her solo show in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia. This year Ekaterina is scheduled to visit three art residencies in Gloucester, MA (where she is now for the month of June at the Goettemann Residency); Nayak, NY, and Salzburg, Austria.  Ekaterina will be having an Introductory Slide Presentation at 7:00 pm Monday, June 4 at The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson Street.  You can check out Katerina’s work at http://www.katapostrophe.com/fineart/index.html.  Her work is exceptional and she is really lovely, so come out Monday night and welcome her to Rocky Neck. 

and on Roger’s right:  Caroline Kwas, new Rocky Neck artist on Madfish Wharf this summer at 77 Rocky Neck, G5 (where Ben McAdam and Jeff Cluett were last year).  Her gallery is Intimate Landscapes.  Caroline is a painter of photorealistic intimate landscapes that must be seen.  You can see her work at  www.carolinekwas.com, but come on down to Madfish Wharf and see it in person and welcome her to Cape Ann.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com

I have no idea how fast this car could have been going but it had to get over a decent embankment and still have enough velocity to stove in the house.

Hope everyone is OK.