Thank you so much! When I moved to Martha's Vineyard in 1985, I intended to work on the novel that I'd just started -- about a former horsegirl who moves (temporarily, she thinks) from a big city to Martha's Vineyard, surprise surprise -- but I never finished that novel. What I wrote in those first years was poetry and short nonfiction. Inspired by the poet Marilyn Hacker, I often wrote in forms: sonnets, villanelles, and sestinas especially. It was almost a decade before I started working seriously on a totally different novel, and quite a few years before I finished it.
Oh, my poetry classes were so far behind me I confess I did a quick search on the form. Having done that to alert myself, I then simply and quite unconsciously ignored the form and never again thought to test or count or mind... I simply enjoyed the phrases and ideas like one would if sitting with a glass of wine and listening to some thoughtful friend mulling through connections and implications. I also stepped off after reading the comment above and looked up the novel - The Mud of the Place which I take to be a reference to the physical cliffs as well as the Paley quote mentioned. Where is it available aside from Amazon? I found a web site that sounded as if it were available there, but then no such luck... or link.
Apartment, mailbox, and building keys on a retractable cord fob attached to a canvas wallet hang from a lanyard long enough to reach a pocket or beltpack. This big city babe never walks out the apt door without the Brooklyn Brewery lanyard around her neck no matter her destination—if any. Failproof over many decades.
Easy to lose keys, forget phone, forget jacket. A lot of risks. Impossible to prevent them all. Hand of God that you found them? Dont think do. Just luck.
Key loser here. After moving to Minnesota, and the second house I co-owned, I made sure to have a house key in a pocket of every layer of clothing I wear. Now to make sure I don't lose my key fob.
Can't speak for God. I know it feels divine when that happens. And when awful things happen it's tempting to blame someone else. Except I know im responsible. Just sharing
So glad you found it! I have retraced walks with dogs to find keys that fell out of my pocket. And I love the poem.
I have also retraced my steps more than once from a walk with a dog searching for my camera lens cap. :)
I love your poem. It's worth reading several times in the first sitting.
Thank you so much! When I moved to Martha's Vineyard in 1985, I intended to work on the novel that I'd just started -- about a former horsegirl who moves (temporarily, she thinks) from a big city to Martha's Vineyard, surprise surprise -- but I never finished that novel. What I wrote in those first years was poetry and short nonfiction. Inspired by the poet Marilyn Hacker, I often wrote in forms: sonnets, villanelles, and sestinas especially. It was almost a decade before I started working seriously on a totally different novel, and quite a few years before I finished it.
Oh, my poetry classes were so far behind me I confess I did a quick search on the form. Having done that to alert myself, I then simply and quite unconsciously ignored the form and never again thought to test or count or mind... I simply enjoyed the phrases and ideas like one would if sitting with a glass of wine and listening to some thoughtful friend mulling through connections and implications. I also stepped off after reading the comment above and looked up the novel - The Mud of the Place which I take to be a reference to the physical cliffs as well as the Paley quote mentioned. Where is it available aside from Amazon? I found a web site that sounded as if it were available there, but then no such luck... or link.
Apartment, mailbox, and building keys on a retractable cord fob attached to a canvas wallet hang from a lanyard long enough to reach a pocket or beltpack. This big city babe never walks out the apt door without the Brooklyn Brewery lanyard around her neck no matter her destination—if any. Failproof over many decades.
Easy to lose keys, forget phone, forget jacket. A lot of risks. Impossible to prevent them all. Hand of God that you found them? Dont think do. Just luck.
Yah. My response is “This is a sign. Follow it!”
Key loser here. After moving to Minnesota, and the second house I co-owned, I made sure to have a house key in a pocket of every layer of clothing I wear. Now to make sure I don't lose my key fob.
I can SO see myself doing this!! Hang in there, Minneapolis! Whoever thought that Minneapolis would be Selma 2026?
P.S. Minneapolis is totally up to it. As the long-ago rabbi said (paraphrased): If not us, who?
Rabbi Hillel: If I am not for me, who will be for me? And when I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, then when?
We just finished putting together a care basket for a neighbor who has twice been teargassed by ICE.
Wow Susanna!
My response. If there were a god with power over your keys you wouldn't have lost them
Much depends on the inclinations of that god, don't you think? <g>
Can't speak for God. I know it feels divine when that happens. And when awful things happen it's tempting to blame someone else. Except I know im responsible. Just sharing
Thank you so much! Often I need to hear from others what I should have trusted on my own.