North by Northeast

Shore Acres - Edward Hopper

On the train again, and all
the beauty of the northeast
horizon is before me:

wide, shallow lakes that reflect
the blue sky in its morning prime
and the pale yellow of a dusky sunset

rows of white, polished sailboats fettered to
short piers of gray-brown wood or stacked
one-two, one-two in boat garages

thin, tall grasses clustered around water
are green sentinels in the day, stick-thin
sentient shadows at night

thick banks like slabs of pottery clay edge
out into the open waters, waiting for boats
of any kind to be released across the ripples

New England is not quite town or country,
an idyllic in-between of red brick buildings and
open-air platforms, with trains traveling through


Written: 3/21/10