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June 12, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

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TALL SHIPS by Meredith Davies Hadaway

December 24, 2024 by Meredith Davies Hadaway 2 Comments

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TALL SHIPS

They glide into our small
waterfront, behemoths

from another era, rigging lit
to glitter in both sky and water.

Maritime cathedrals, masts
and sails for buttresses, floating

out of time and place,
as only beauty can. Sure, our

past is troubled, and the future
is unclear. But the stars that blink

beyond these wavering pennants—
long-extinguished, across

enormous distances—their light
still reaches us.

—Meredith Davies Hadaway

“Tall Ships,” from [Among the Many Disappearing Things] by Meredith Davies Hadaway, as performed with Joe Holt, piano, at a recent Mainstay concert. “Falling Sky,” watercolor, by Greg Mort.

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Filed Under: 1 Homepage Slider

NEW YEAR’S DAY by Meredith Davies Hadaway

January 1, 2024 by Meredith Davies Hadaway

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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 by Meredith Davies Hadaway

December 24, 2022 by Meredith Davies Hadaway

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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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Filed Under: 1 Homepage Slider, Spy Highlights

Still Life by Meredith Davies Hadaway

December 23, 2021 by Meredith Davies Hadaway

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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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Synonyms for Faith by Meredith Davies Hadaway

December 23, 2020 by Meredith Davies Hadaway

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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 by Meredith Davies Hadaway

December 24, 2019 by Meredith Davies Hadaway

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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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Filed Under: 1 Homepage Slider, Arts Portal Lead

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