My attraction to abandoned places continues to prompt my writing, in various ways. Here is a piece I wrote last month, by the water at dusk, after all of my guests had packed up and returned to the city. Such a difference when everyone has left.
The resident family of loons, emboldened by the sudden silence, magically reappear, and glide ever and ever closer to the dock, happy to have the lake returned to them once again.
Last One Home.
The dock bobs in the brilliant sunshine,
not a soul on it.
See the watercraft there, lined up along the shore
like silent soldiers,
oars at the ready for willing hands.
Lifejackets in bins lie folded and stacked.
Rubber buoys squeak and jostle
with nothing to do.
The hammock lies still,
awaiting a sleepy visitor.
The firepit seeks a crowd of rowdy singers.
The chipmunks scurry freely
And no dogs give chase.
No voices calling back and forth.
Sunscreen, please. More towels.
My I-Pod!
The birds sing
but half-heartedly,
with no audience to perform for.
Ceremoniously,
the sunset unfolds its glory
all on its own.
A sequence of my poems has been published in a hardcover book entitled The Music of Leaving Poems by Tricia McCallum