Maine Speaks

My newest book purchase is a copy of Maine Speaks: An Anthology of Maine Literature, editor Jeff Fischer. This book is no longer in print, but it should be. It is a wonderful compilation of essays and poems about Maine, written by authors who have lived in Maine at some time during their lives. It is divided into 5 sections: Identity, Origins,Work, Nature, and Communities. I have decided to read it section by section, cover to cover, with a bit of skipping around thrown in for good measure .

My All-time Favorite Excerpt from Maine Speaks:

Lakes and Ponds: Some Blue Spots on the Maine Highway Map, by Kate Barnes

There's Blunder Pond and Bluffer Pond, Molasses Pond and Bean;

There's Scraggly Lake and Ragged Lake; there's Silver, Clear, and Green;

Bear Pond, Caribou, Beaver, Mink; Moose Pond and Eagle Lake.

White Horse Lake and Spider Lake; Panther Pond and Snake;

Hound and Otter, Togue and Salmon; Loon, and Swan, and Duck.

There's Hot Brook Lake and Cold Stream Pond; there's White Pond and there's Black;

Lobster Lake and Bean Pot Lake; Shin Pond for a stew;

(Toddy Pond will make you cheerful, Brandy Pond will too,)

Hay Lake, Harrow Lake, Chain of Ponds; Buttermilk and Mud;

White Oak, Cedar, Seven Tree, Elm; Mill Pond, Meadow, Flood;

Meddybemps and Pocomoonshine; Simsquish, Skitacook,

Syslodobsis, Nahinakanta; Ugh Lake and Ticook;

Indian Pond and Soldier Pond; Polly Pond and Jim;

Round Pond, Square Lake, Corner Pond; Cut Lake and Old Stream;

Endless Lake and Desolation; St. Froid in the snow;

Flying Pond and The Enchanted, its haunted stream below:-

Blue spots on the road map with their blue names printed by,

Many words for "water", many eyes that see the sky.