SECRETS OF THE ISLAND: STORIES OF THE COAST OF MAINE Katherine J. S. Lee; Sea Smoke Press, 2022; 189 pages, $14.95; ISBN 978-0-578-36028-7.
SECRETS OF THE ISLAND: STORIES OF THE COAST OF MAINE
The playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) wrote, “There are no secrets better kept than those that everyone guesses.” However, some people keep secrets for so long that it no longer matters, except for themselves. And Secrets of the Island tells those stories well.
Luckily, one mystery has been revealed – the remarkable writing skills of Maine-based writer Katherine Lee, who has demonstrated exceptional storytelling talent in 12 stories in this magnificent collection. Six stories were previously published in literary magazines, but now all 12 can be viewed by a wider and more appreciative audience. Readers will be captivated by Lee’s imagination, images, characters and situations that most people would like to keep secret.
There is tragedy, and sadness, and anger, and disappointment, but also a little sly humor, romance and touching tenderness. In “Never Love a Fisherman,” tragedy at sea causes a pregnant young wife to cling to hope despite knowing that “hope is just another form of denial.” Several sad stories involve family feuds, abuse, and drinking with relentless fathers who won’t bury the ax but instead spend their lives sharpening it.
“Secrets of the Island” tells about the breakup of a long friendship, about the joys of seduction and the May-December romance. “Island to Island” is a happy story about a family making an amazing deal. Frontier is a charming tale of teenage romance and youthful inspiration between a Californian surfer and a Penobscot girl.
Other stories deal with what happens after a suspicious death in a quarry on the island; an elderly woman gathers her family and makes an announcement, but no one understands what she is really saying; and an unemployed junkie whose life is going to hell keeps making bad decisions until one day he finally realizes it.
VISUALIZATION OF NATURE: EXPERIENCES ON TRUTH, SPIRIT AND PHILOSOPHY
VISUALIZATION OF NATURE: EXPERIENCES ON TRUTH, SPIRIT AND PHILOSOPHY edited by Stuart Kestenbaum; Princeton Architectural Press, 2021; 112 pages, $21.95; ISBN 978-1-61689-986-8.
Poet and editor of Deer Island, Stuart Kestenbaum, is a thoughtful and cunning man. You would expect him to be that way, as he is a former Maine Poet Laureate and director of the Haystack Mountain Trade School. But this book is even more creative.
A Visualization of Nature is a collection of 20 short essays contributed by 21 participants who were asked to reflect on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1836 essay “Nature”. Kestenbaum asked them the following questions: “How does the natural world speak to us and how do we listen?” And the results are sharp and revealing.
Kestenbaum lives in Maine, as do the three authors. But all essayists give a satisfactory variety of thought, image and understanding of nature. A passage from Emerson’s essay “Nature” sets the tone: “The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.”
Maulian Dana is an ambassador for the Penobscot tribe, and her essay reminds us that the earth cares for us, “even when we don’t deserve it.” Portland writer Betsy Scholl’s essay “Cut, Hiss and Foam” describes her childhood fascination with the ocean and the seashore. Rockland herbalist Deb Soule explains the many medicinal uses of the biennial herb Teasel.
Other essays explore the language of nature (words do make sense); mapping changes in the geography of nature over the years; sit quietly in the open air on a summer night, listen and watch; swimming in a pond with cold water; “anti-garden” movement; and Doug Tullamy’s eloquent ode to the mighty oak: “I can’t imagine life without them.”
Best of all, however, is Wallace Kaufman’s poignant and tender essay Cycles of Life, in which he describes teaching his young daughter the mysteries and wonders of the cycles of life and death in nature.
Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.
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