Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown
NEW YEAR’S DAY
In the wake of a storm, eerily
warm through a thick embrace of fog,
snow geese trail across
what had been ice, in single file, pale
shadows of a former year.
Anything can happen.
—Meredith Davies Hadaway
Meredith Davies Hadaway is the author of four poetry collections, most recently Small Craft Warning, a collaboration with artist Marcy Dunn Ramsey. She is the Poet-in-Residence at Washington College.
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SOLSTICE
We churn through whatever wave
asdsassdthe waters bring us because the sky,
asdsassdasdsassdthe sky, the sky.
—Meredith Davies Hadaway
Meredith Davies Hadaway is the author of three poetry collections, including At the Narrows, winner of the 2015 Delmarva Book Prize for Creative Writing. She is the Spring 2023 Poet-in-Residence at Washington College.
Sound editing by Nathan DeProspo
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Still Life
Flakes tumble from a weighted branch to
rejoin the falling snow.
A small boat nods on its lines.
Water, water, water reclaiming
the shore.
No matter the season, the sycamore drops
its leaves.
Trees beyond trees.
Light off the river—anything
reflected—becomes art.
Our bones will be chessmen for the gods
of tomorrow.
When the vanishing point is still
outside the frame.
Dust ever-changing: In darkness,
dirt. In sunlight, diamonds.
—Meredith Davies Hadaway
Meredith Davies Hadaway is the author of three poetry collections, including At the Narrows, winner of the 2015 Delmarva Book Prize for Creative Writing.
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The Spy’s annual seasonal tradition of publishing a poem by Chestertown’s Meredith Davies Hadaway continues for its fifth year with her moving Synonyms for Faith.
This poem was first published by The Summerset Review and was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize. Her painting is an 8×8 pastel, entitled “Vespers.” And the harp accompaniment is excerpted from “Meditation on a Scottish Seal Song.”
Synonyms for Faith
All day a lone goose stands on the floating
dock. He nibbles at the water—stretches,
preens—but does not fly. No sign
of the flock that was there the day
before. I worry he’s injured or maybe
lost his mate. The tide comes in, raising
the wooden slats that hold him, then
retreats. Ducks crowd by and leave again.
The sun moves down the river, tossing
amber light across the lower layer of clouds.
Still there, now a silhouette against the glowing
sky. There is no lonelier sound than the cry
of just-one-goose—unless you hear another
from further down the river. I can’t be sure.
I only know the goose is gone now.
That when I look again, I see a pair
of shadows wing their way along
the river’s silver surface.
Meredith Davies Hadaway is the author of three poetry collections, including At the Narrows, winner of the 2015 Delmarva Book Prize for Creative Writing.
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“End of the Season,” from Meredith Davies Hadaway’s collection Fishing Secrets of the Dead, seems an appropriate way to usher out one Chester River moment and welcome the winter months to come. Here we pair it with “Ice,” a harp meditation and “Snow Falling on Cedar,” a pastel painting, two other works by Hadaway that evoke the peace of the season.
END OF THE SEASON
White on white, the workboat
scrubs the fog outside my window,
churning up the clam shell
bones of the water, towing
a cloud of paper gulls—the wall,
the sky, to my eye everything
the same color: winter, waiting
to receive the smoke of our fires
Meredith Davies Hadaway is the author of three poetry collections, including At the Narrows, winner of the 2015 Delmarva Book Prize for Creative Writing.
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