What's Up at the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station

December 2010 News from UMASS Boston Nantucket Field Station

Petrach

The turtle in the picture is a red eared slider.  It was given to us by someone no longer able to care for him. Each morning as part of my daily ritual I walk to the laboratory to turn on his sun lamp, feed him, and provide some small measure of interaction for him with the outer world. He will live this life with little variation until the end of his days.  We can't let him loose here, they are not native (see below) so the best he can hope for is a larger tank, it's on order.
I've dubbed him Petrach after Francesco Petrarca

From Wikipedia - Francesco Petrarca (July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374), known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest Renaissance humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism".^[1] In the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the modern Italian language based on Petrarch's works, as well as those of Giovanni Boccaccio and, especially, Dante Alighieri. This would be later endorsed by the Accademia della Crusca. His sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. Petrarch was also known for being one of the first people to refer to the Dark Ages.

As a pet lover and someone with a respect for any living thing, I find keeping turtles most disturbing (they should not be kept as pets!)and yet each day I find myself, rain or shine, making sure the pet rock is alive and well.  I pick him up from time to time even though I'm a germaphobe and I know turtles are a breeding ground for bacteria, and yes I talk to him. Nothing heavy just sounds really, a snippet of a song or a poem that I woke up with banging around in my dreams.           

From Wikipedia - The red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) is a semi-aquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. It is a subspecies of pond slider. It is a native of the southern United States, but has become common in various areas of the world due to the pet trade. They are popular pets in the United States, Mexico, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, Japan, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

Travel Plans Askew

We had plans to travel
Day afer Christmas 2010
Glad we didn't see those plans through
Sorry Mom
Our plans are askew

Down Here

Down here
The foot
Wish bone
Impacted molar
Scattered artifacts
Some plastic
Keep out
Stay off
Protect it

The precipatation
That was supposed to peter out
by mid day
Blows sideways
Sundown 4:30 ish
Slush up to my galloshes
Ice in my mustache
Hot cocoa with Bailey's awaits
Knock on the door
Dog on the prod
Dinner later

The Boys

They play rough
Cats head engulfed
Dogs mouth
Daily occurrence
A boys life

Saturday Ritual

Hey Jake let's take a walk
How about Borderland
or Wampatuck
I'll pack a lunch
My fishing tackle
a picture of you

The Innocent Hearts

Liu Xiaobo is a true hero.

http://poetry.about.com/od/contemporarypoets/p/Liu-Xiaobo.htm?nl=1

Check out this book!

http://www.sarahblakebooks.com/

Highly Recommended.

Len

Hello Again

Cold cycle spin
Send fluids skyward
Scour rock

News of ancient remains
Jaw at the bottom of a wash
Four teeth still in

Nexus of morain and deer paths
Archeology for breakfast

Preservation the rhythm
In the wind
Hello again

Thank You

Aftermath of a day well spent

Dirty dishes and recyclables to sort

Pictures snapped poetry popped

Music

Play date with good friends

Come Monday begin again

The natives here

Go sledding in the graveyard

Quaker slip and slide they
Throw snowballs at windmills

When the Wii is unavailable

Video of the UMass Field Station

http://www.plumtv.com/videos/nantucket-field-trip-field-station/index.html

The Field Station

http://www.plumtv.com/videos/nantucket-field-trip-field-station/index.html

A very nicely done piece by our friends at PlumTv.

In The Offing

Come on gale and grey
I'm ready for a snow event
You're coming no matter what
So, let's get it on
Go sledding in the graveyard
Throw snowball at windmills
Write our best holiday intentions
On the windowsill
Next to the cat
Catchin all the warmth afforded
From the failing light
That which is
In the offing
Fn ay

Long ago

Rick Hamlett is someone I haven't talked with since the early 70's when we both belonged to a theater group called "Living Presence", he's the one in the glasses, I'm the one with his mouth wide open.  Some things never change.  Thanks for dropping me a line and this pic. Rick. 

Length of my Shadow

Yellow light lift my feet
The long knives of winter
Ragged and redolent with life
Draw the dog in me around the corner
Riffles pant legs and matted fur
Length of my shadow
Guide me
Breadth and girth
Of my desires

Holiday Party!

Every year since our arrival
We've hosted a holiday celebration
Join us this Sunday
Poetry and music
From 2-4
180 Polpis Rd.
UMass Boston
Field Station
Potluck dinner
From 4 till whatevah
Come on, come ovah

Mr. Kent Foreman

I heard of Kent Foreman from Regie Gibson. When I said he sounds very cool I'd like to meet him Regie assured me I would.  He came to Nantucket to read at the UMass Field Station in 2006, with Regie. At the time we collaborated with a theater group on Island known as the Uptown Players run by Jim Nettles and Neville Richen and it was arranged that on this tiny speck of sand we had Regie, Kent, and Brother Blue all perform on the same day. Regie and Kent did their John Henry piece and left us speechless, all of us, even Blue. Jim Nettles, Dr. Hill, Kent Foreman you are loved and I'll remember you. 

Earlier my emotions ran towards sadness, that's changed. I've spent the morning listening to Kent's CD while thumbing through my copy of Warren Lehrer's portrait of Blue.  That will never be a bad thing.      

Take a moment to read this

http://owlrainfeathers.blogspot.com/2010/12/ark-coming-and-kent-foreman.html

Kent Foreman

pillowpoets.ning.com/video/kent-foreman-epiphany

Last night
Long after I'd gone to bed
News came of your passing

With the coming of the light
I wake and celebrate your life

If you cut and paste the line from pillowpoets into a search his haiku epiphany will appear.

Kent Foreman

Last night came the news of your passing
Gravedigger I dig and
Celebrate your life

Stroll

So we went strolling
Downtown
Stopped at the Atheneum first
Big mistake
Not the first
Left my wallet home
Carried a bag of books
For a couple of hours
Sisyphus on the upswing
Literate
Kept my hands
In my pockets
For the most part
Took some pictures
My methods mortify
The missus
I apologize
For making you stand
While the boat leaves
Proving my thesis
You can stop

Little Village

we live publicly
on private property
words don't always convey
a signs true meaning

thankfully I have some stage experience
posed look
phrase uttered (something from a favorite movie)
with impeccable diction

and back to work

Life in HD

Water's your eyes
This west wind
Taste's of iron
A punch in the nose
Offers up it's dead
Swegen had Cormorant
For breakfast
Plastic
eyeless sneakers
Laced up with Spartina
Limpets and petroleum derivatives
A faded balloon
It's a girl!

Loggerhead

We've had a couple of Loggerheads
In the freezer
Since late summer

Today the Necropsy
Swing the door open...

My cigar is lit
Sacred is smoke at times like this

I'll dig a hole
Wash the freezer
My job

At the days end
Make mine a double
What will you have Sarah?

From The Bluff

From this vantage point
The bluff over Polpis
Watching the last days
The last call
Dredge
Nothing
Do it again
You have no where
To be

Christmas Stroll Event

Nantucket, MA

 An Evening of Music

 Friday, December 3, 2010

4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.

Come enjoy the music

Refreshments: Hot cider and cookies

Leonard Germinara Master of Ceremonies

            4:00 – 4:30 P.M.          Owen LaFarge, Pianist

            4:30 – 5:00 P.M.          Jake Vohs, Guitarist, Drummer

                                                      and Vocalist

            5:00 – 5:30 P.M.          Armen Ghazaryan, Violinist  

            5:30 – 6:00 P.M.          Tim Comings and Paul Connors,                 

                                                    Vocalists with guitar

            6:00 – 6:30 P.M.          Jim Sulzer, Classical Guitarist

            6:30 – 7:00 P.M.          Neville Richen, Special Reading

 7:00 P.M. the winner of the Nantucket Lightship Basket will be announced

Sponsors: Jazz Co. & Spoken Word Nantucket www.spokenwordnantucket.org

For more information visit, www.maah.org

For Scott

55 is just a number
The friends that sit around
Your fire
Salute you
Old man
Well done
Stay busy
Remain calm
Drink De-caf

Blue

The Swans have moved in
Blue and cold come on
Last chance days
Get all you can
Then go

One Lone Fisherman

On my noon time walk of the station I spot one lone fisherman in the harbor. It's just cold enough to be uncomfortable, the wind is the cherry on top. Sarah and I are going to have dinner with friends, we've been told to expect scallops for appetizers.  We got some venison from Bob and Deb last night.

Yeah, I'm thankful.

Peace

The humpbacked moon
Lights the remnants
Shells scattered
Bye valves

One

Sleep like you'll grow
In leaps and bounds
Mark well the moment

Lift your leg
To keep sorrow
In abeyance

Play hard
Chase
Play hard
Chase

Happy Birthday

Let Us Prey

The picture of two Osprey below is from 2008 or 2009.  The pair had been coming to the field station to raise replacement parts for many years and I've taken hundreds of pictures of them since our arrival in 2004. On Mother's Day weekend 2009 the male fell from the sky about 150 yards from the nest.  Sarah, with assistance from Vern Laux sent the body off to Boston that the cause of death might be determined.  The findings came back with no clear reason noted.   We did not have a nesting pair nesting at the Field Station this past summer for the first time since Sarah and I got here and they were missed.  One of our Jr. Rangers, James spent his two weeks as a volunteer at the field station observing 7 or 8 Osprey on station that appeared to be agitated at all times.  I spoke with Vern and he thinks that the territory with nest and dominance issues were being worked out and a new pair might be expected next year.  Here's hoping.

505

The distance west of here

Drums the storm front

Walk the dog

Down to the beach

We hang our noses

Into the wind

Spartina on a spit of sand

Somnambulating we

Before caffeine and kibble

Water will wake us

Send us home

Our breakfast waiting

That it is dream

Does not matter

Pictures of a Common Dolphin

Sarah's blog mentions the common dolphin that stranded here last winter.  I've posted a couple of shots at the bottom of the page.

The Change

The Change

The wind rattled me awake this morning and my first thought was I hope it’s not cold too!  It wasn’t but it feels like it won’t be far behind.  We (the dog and i) are up early to catch a glimpse of the Leonid meteor showers.  I say we knowing full well Swegen’s more interested in the scents left behind by rabbit, deer, and several feral cats that live here at the field station than celestial bodies.  A few years back on a bitterly cold winter’s night I witnessed one of the most spectacular Leonid showers of the century, no such luck tonight.  

As the sun came up a test pattern in pastels a stunted perhaps dead tree comes alive in crow squawk.  Swegen, not yet a year old spooks at the sound his long legs a hindrance as he tries and fails to beat the retreat. 

 BIRD

Night we chant with the wind

Bray the morning come

Pray for something warmer

Leaves us weary wayfarer’s

A wrecked ship’s miscellany scattered

Pirates Booty be praised

Flense the carcass right where it beached

Start a fire

If you decline to eat it raw

The skeleton will smolder for hours

Stay up wind

Incoming tide will extinguish

Ultra Violet and scavengers get the rest

Write it in couplets

Capture Oceanus at her best

The morning will find you

Dew dappled bedraggled

Hunkered down

Conciliatory

Two things:

1. I have a sticky U key.
C. The dolphins are still there

Note to self get eye exam...2 get a blog spot is easy
Navigation is hard

lmr leonard

Dolphins In The Harbor

Marine Mammal Stranding Team

The rain was heavy at times this morning.  We, my dog and I got started a little later than usual.  After a brief walk to the beach here at the field station we packed up and took a ride to get coffee. Swegen (1 year old Labradoodle), as it is with many dogs loves riding with his face out of the window.  The morning routine we've developed pleases us in such a simple way.  On our way back home I stopped in on the last known spot three common dolphins have been circling for the last few days.  By the time we arrive the heater in the car has lulled the dog back to puppy nirvana so I'm on my own for the moment.

It's a brief walk to the redoubt we've been using to keep watch on the cetaceans, the area they've inhabited since Monday is fairly small and high tide finds the area bracketed by scallop fisherman at first light. I did not see the dolphins, I can only hope they've found a route to open water and thank my lucky stars I didn't have to stand another two hour watch as was necessary for all MMST volunteers yesterday. 

Dolphins in distress
Work a conundrum like a hound dog searching
Draw my attention
Sound amazingly like horses snorting
Cat caught up in the visual
Raptor hovering
It's silent the clouds are close by
They've gone
We hope
But keep on watching