Show Me the Place, 76

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

76: Eatonville and Fort Pierce, Florida—Zora Neale Hurston; June 2003

Well, I was teaching Hurston then*—

Their Eyes Were Watching God.

So we drove down to Florida

To see where she had trod.

And Eatonville—her town of youth—

Was full of much surprise.

And then her simple, final home**—

Its sign to advertise

Her presence there so long ago—

Her grave not far away.

Oh, what a life she once had lived!

A wonder—every way.

*2008 at Western Reserve Academy

**in Fort Pierce

Show Me the Place, 75

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

75: Grave of Robert Frost; Bennington, Vermont; July 8, 2002

A scenic cemetery there

In Bennington. And it is where

A favorite poet, Robert Frost,

Now lies. No way you can get lost:

A sign directs you to the site—

The setting there just seems so right:

A rural spot—with trees and hills.

We feel the place—respectful chills.

Show Me the Place, 74

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

74: Baltimore, Maryland; Edgar Allan Poe House; July 2002

A simple structure built of brick

Where (1830s*) Poe had stayed,

And it was there he first displayed

Those talents that have made him stick

With countless readers—here, abroad.

He showed the darkness in the heart;

He crafted poems—purest art;

He showed the terror of the odd.

The place still stands in Baltimore—

He wrote those works we still admire—

Those works of which we’ll never tire—

We love that bird—that “Nevermore!”

*1832–35

Show Me the Place, 73

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

73: Piedmont, West Virginia; July 2002

The home of Henry Louis Gates

When he was but a child.

He wrote a book about the place*—

The calm, the weird, the wild.

I taught that book a decade, and

We went to see the town

Where he had grown—all well before

He’d gained all his renown.

We met him once in Cleveland,** and

To us he was so kind.

It all began in this small town,

Which we had gone to find.

*Colored People, 1994

**September 2003

Show Me the Place, 72

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

72: New England—and Robert Frost; July 2008

Into Vermont we gladly drove

To see where Frost had been.

We saw some houses—mountains, too—

Enjoyed what Frost’s great pen

Engraved into so many a page—

Those words of purest gold—

Those words that never tarnish—that

Seem young—not ever old.

Show Me the Place, 71

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

71: Chicago and Lake Forest, Illinois; June 2006

Fitzgerald wrote (in Gatsby) of

A woman—young—and of her love.

He based it on a girl he’d known*—

Before he’d really aged or grown.

And she had lived in Illinois—

And Scott Fitzgerald, smitten boy,

Would write of her in several tales,

Including Gatsby. We found trails

That led to her—to where she’d been

When Scott was young—and ripe for sin!

*Ginevra King

the Kings' home in Lake Forest, IL

Show Me the Place, 70

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

70: Nantucket Island, 2001

A voyage to Nantucket, where

I did some necessary work.

And Joyce came too—and, oh, that air

Was such a gratifying perk!

I’d read a book called Ahab’s Wife*—

Nantucket is a setting—key.

And all throughout my teaching life

I wished to go—to visit—see

The sites that I would talk about—

The settings writers had employed.

I wanted to erase all doubt—

Perhaps I am, well, paranoid?

I have to know—I cannot guess—

Or act as if I really know.

And so—to cancel such a mess

I realized that I must go!

*by Sena Jeter Naslund, 1999 (subtitle is The Star-Gazer)