Wintertime, Huru’s ship
As time draws on
more buildings block
my sweeping panorama
of swaths of grey, green, blue -
Squared stamps of their indifference
to other’s views.
On moors I pass
by way of blended paths
Evolved by nature’s needs
Unmarked by common tread.
Keeping weary watch
for new protrusions
of mans delusions,
on distant horizon line.
A shrinking rim -
hemming in my island watch.
‘Til one day, my disbelieving eye
spied a turning tide -
A sculpture had arrived.
Stark stab of hope
that island folk
both young and old
throwing off the yoke
of conforming tastes
would reach to grasp
straight from the heart
What great art is -
Entwined in nature bare.
A modern man, not of the sea
but squatted on hill brow
had docked ‘longside
his stoned reside -
A man’s endeavor
Twice house’s height
A steeled Hurrah
Long spiking girders
Orange painted bright -
blending effortlessly, smoothly
with treed and twigged terrain.
To some obscene
To me shocking right -
Hanging ramrod straight
Curved by surrounding nature’s
lined up hills, shapes of trees
and blending man-made dreams.
Such monumental might
lightly caught my eye
as I tacked by.
No jarring halt,
just thoughts run wild -
Di Suvero’s Hurus foraging,
surveying all at steady pace -
Steely eyed Samurais.
Their whales interned with island bones
Reminding all, what we create
weighs heavily on island’s constant being.
Scenes twist and churn and leap about -
chased generations back,
to visualize returned whalers
spouting tales of sights unseen.
Stretching to unfurl
tradition bound minds -
of common acceptability.
So they would shake and quake
‘til barriers fell
and broader views prevailed.
Today, this work of one -
anchored but not aground.
Towering above rooftops -
adrift in air.
Not a whaling ship
No blubber shown
No function to its parts
But as a carcass whole
A beacon to those
plunging the depths
of mankind’s netted thoughts.
So pause one’s oars
Check one’s course
Nature sets the space -
The Lady breathes again.
This Poem was originally Published in The Inquirer & Mirror (Nantucket)
(Richard & Ronay Menschel Collection)
