Author: Marty Luster

Pavilion Beach in Fog

As the fog crept in off the ocean and descended on The Fort,

it was as if a curtain of cataracts had been drawn across my eyes,

blinding me to the familiar sights of Commercial Street and beyond;

limiting my vision to the nearby beach and shore.

What was in my sight stood bright and clear against the distant blur:

the rocks, sand, receding surf and, most of all, the ocean’s frothy edge,

like a highway on a GPS showing me the way from where I stood

to some unseen, mysterious distant destination.

Marty Luster

“But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars.”- – -Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are colors which cause each other to shine brilliantly, which form a couple which complete each other like man and woman. (Vincent van Gogh)

TWO CONVERSATIONS

There was a great photo in the news this morning;

two  older men facing each other on an Athens street

having an animated discussion  about the debt crises in Greece.

The man on the right was bent toward the other,

his left fist clenched and his right jabbing the air near

the other man’s ear.

The talker on the left had his back arched and both arms

were pointed skyward with open hands  facing the other speaker ,

a dismissive gesture that said, “oh, stop the nonsense!”

It was quite unlike the calm and gentle scene

I happened upon while leaving the library

after returning a nearly overdue book.

Down Dale Avenue, about fifty feet away, a man and a woman

were quietly speaking to each other over the fence

that runs along the sidewalk.

The woman’s head was comfortably supported by her bent arm

which was propped up by the top rung of the fence.

But I’ll not write about the utility of fences;

that, as I remember, has already been done quite well.

The two stood in a spotlight of sun

framed by a bending tree trunk , and by shadows

on nearby buildings and those cast by the fence

aimed at the sidewalk.

They were relaxed and attentive to what the other had to say.

It was a conversation, listening as well as speaking.

Of course, what they were talking about is none of my business,

but I bet it wasn’t the debt crisis in Greece.

Marty Luster

Samanda adds some color to the menu board at the Topside Grill.

“I sound my barbaric yawp over the woofs of the world.”

Walt Wufman

Hmmm.

All clear on this side.

OK, let’s go for it! Uh Oh, that guy has a camera.

BOTH OF US, ALONE

I thought I was alone, having wandered for about an hour

before the man and his dog slowly, but surprisingly,

came out from behind the large boulders at the eastern end

of the beach that looks over the Annisquam and that in summer

provides a good post for parents watching  their children .

As the dog loped off along the path in the dunes that leads

to the parking  lot, the man and I became the sole occupants

of this lovely, but in the cool autumn air, lonely place.

He didn’t notice me, or, in any event, acknowledge me.

I took his photograph as if to prove  I wasn’t alone.