A marriage on vacation

 

 

Amid the deepening pine perfume
and the tall green of crowding firs
that smother sound and hold north
light at bay, we sail the streets
of Copper Harbor, Michigan.
 
We navigate our destination's
end, my compass set for tolerance
and ship-lanes back to my old
love of you. Pines breathe their
richness into hot and sullen air.
 
We ride in silence wild with forest scent.
Headlights cut a channel in the gloom;
a yellow Dead End sign
sways up ahead. Our maps
reveal that we are nearly there.
 
We chose between the clear and emerald lake
we edged our toes in just this 
afternoon and this place, hidden
in the fragrant woods. I
look around: the fragile road is gone.
 
 
					

				

Reviews

[Legion]

I get two different views of this. One of a marraige where two are sharing moments together and the other subtle hints of a marraige falling apart depending on how one reads it. Not sure which you were going for (or if both), but this is well written and takes me to those moments spoken of. I can smell the trees and the lake as well as feel it all with this piece. Good work no matter the meaning.

[Antonio Valentino]

Holly, this was beautiful. I hope when their vacation ended they got back to, the work, of marriage.

Work isn't work, if you love what you're doing.
Loved this.

Antonio xx

[Ed Hart]

I'm not much on commenting on how close you stand to your Muse; but, I can see and say you are a wonderful and brave lady, and life has found you worthy...

[Don Lund]

I really like how the audience can either try to cling to the hopeful lines "back to my old love" (and cutting through the gloom) or focus on the literal trouble signs "dead end" and "silence". All very thought provoking word choices and a complex poem bound to make readers return to consider the meaning. Good stuff!

[Trée]

Holly, wonderful poem. Your imagery is superb and sublime. I can see those dark green pines trees, smell that glorious perfume. More important, I see a relationship finding its sea-legs in the silence of two souls returning to a place of calm waters. I like the steady pacing, the one-two punch of the external backdrop to the internal landscape. 'Compass set to tolerance' is a very nice phrase. My first marriage fell apart much like this couple. No yelling or fighting, just a quiet acceptance of the road ahead, 'the fragile road' that slips away in the dusk, the road that was never meant to be. You write like William Trevor, about the highest praise I know to give.

[PianoandPage]

this is a really great poem. it speaks of a marriage that is nearing its end.

there is a sense of peace. the kind of peace that comes from a final realization. and admittance of reality. the ulitmate honesty.

it's like now that you know the love is gone... the journey coming to the "dead end" you can just relax and enjoy.

you have a nice descriptive style that gave atmospheric grace to this subject.

[HoorayForUnderdog]

I love your descriptions of the pine forest and the last line is a great one which says so much in such few words.

[Lena M. P.]

I get the impression that this is a couple that is attempting to salvage their love by taking one last trip to a place that once meant something to them. You actually did well with the description because it took me back to vacations on Douglas Lake in Michigan when I was a child. My favorite lines were, "We navigate our destination's end, my compass set for tolerance..." Very well written.

[Mark Pearce]

Thanks for this piece, Holly.

A poem can do so many things. This one sets a time and place and mood exquisitely. It doesn't reveal much about the participants, but that's one for another work.