Poetry Friday: “York Beach, August 2018”

I want to thank all the folks who visited my blog last weekend; I wasn’t around much, as my wife and I were celebrating our 10th anniversary in York Beach, Maine!

“Finds a vessel, tightly moored…”

Earlier this year we had discussed where to go – perhaps Cape Cod or New York City – but I suggested going to the same place we stay for a week with the kids every June. When my wife looked at me quizzically and asked, “are you SURE??” I replied, yes – because it would be a treat being able to enjoy York Beach as adults!

Believe me, I love my kids dearly…but I also longed for the opportunity to lay on the beach without keeping one eye open and visit shops that contain potentially breakable items. So we left Friday morning Aug. 10 and returned Sunday afternoon – a short little excursion – but enjoyed having the time to ourselves, even though the weather was less than cooperative.

And by “less than cooperative,” I mean it rained the entire time. Disappointing, yes, especially for someone like me who loves sunshine and hot weather…but we didn’t let it get us down. Heck, no, as Pete the Cat would say. Because it’s alllll good.

York Beach, August 2018

The day had finally arrived.
Kids at your sisters,
dogs with the sitter,
we set off through rain-slick streets
cramped with traffic, first-shifters and weekenders
looking to get an early start.

Fridays never used to be this busy.

So we sped and slowed
according to the flow
until we reached the highway, where we could park
and watch
the entire lot – rows of toy cars on an asphalt floor, waiting
to be gathered up by an 8-year-old.

For some reason, traffic reports
never occurred to us,
busy engaging in adult conversation, a parent-pleasure
rarely enjoyed:
complete sentences, uninterrupted thoughts,
unshared beverages.
Inch by inch, exit by exit, the herd
ambled along; plotting our departure, we crept
to the off-ramp, scarcely any others following our lead.

At the inn, we unloaded and unpacked, sea-mist breezes
salting our backs
and cheeks, dampening
clothes, hair, luggage under darkening skies. Peering
through plantation shades, clouds
shot pellets at glass
and unfortunate sunbathers, scurrying
like squirrels beneath a hawk.

We ate in. Nearly every day
it rained and all we could do
aside from a short jaunt downtown and inside a shop
or two, was spend our time talking, looking,
gazing, most often
from a horizontal view. Surrounded
by no one but ourselves, nothing but arms and legs to hold us together,
communication turned silent
and our weekend washed away
more quickly
than we had ever imagined.

– © 2018 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

For more poetry, please visit Christie at Wondering and Wandering for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup along with some ornithophilous poetry! (and yes, that’s a real word!)

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  (coming Sept. 25, 2018!)

You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers! (Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)

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Thank you to everyone for your support!

• NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
• KIRKUS Starred review!
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• “Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers
• Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017
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