Show Me the Place, 98

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

98: Home of Emily Dickinson; Amherst, Mass.; July 21, 2008*

And here once lived the Dickinsons—

An Amherst family—prominent.

They were not known for soldier sons

But for a poet consequent.

Oh, Emily had found a way

To catch the universe in words—

The passing of each single day—

The flowers, sky, the seasons, birds.

Yes, all compressed in compact lines

That somehow held the weight of truth.

For language is like precious mines,

Yielding gold of age and youth.

*We've been there multiple times.

Show Me the Place, 97

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

97: Custom House; Salem, Massachusetts; October 15, 2003

Yes, this the place where Hawthorne worked*—

And, later, which he used—

His Scarlet Letter intro, which

Makes readers feel abused.

“The Custom House”—it makes demands

Of those who wish to read

The tale of Hester and the guy

Who did the naughty deed!

But this I’ve found, I must confess:

The more I’ve read that tale,

The more I’ve liked it, less I’ve felt

As if I want to bail!

*1846–49

Show Me the Place, 96

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

96: The House of the Seven Gables; Salem, Massachusetts

We saw the house that Hawthorne used

For that most famous tale

He published (1851)—

Museum now (much for sale).

The Ingersolls had owned the house—

They were some Hawthorne kin—

And now it is a famous spot—

Much more than it had been.

I wonder now—the years gone by—

Though folks still come to look—

Do you think many people read

That noted Hawthorne book?

Show Me the Place, 95

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

95: South Casco, Maine; childhood home of Nathaniel Hawthorne,* 1812-25; June 30, 2007

It’s rural Main—extremely so.

It seems in some ways off the grid.

But we drove there some years ago—

Back then, the sort of thing we did.

The house was open—got to see

The nice work they have done inside.

And such are thrills for Joyce and me—

The nerds who want things clarified.

*Hawthorne (1804–64)

Show Me the Place, 94

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

94: Hawthorne’s “Little Red House”*; Tanglewood; Lenox, Mass. (original burned in 1890—rebuilt); August 4, 2005

Here Hawthorne lived**—and on the way?

The House! (With seven gables—yay!)

He finished that! And changed our lives.

(In many schools, the book still thrives.)

His Melville friendship flourished here—

But Herman was intense, I fear,

And Hawthorne soon would move away—

And Melville felt complete dismay.

*replica re-created on the grounds of Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

**in 1851

Show Me the Place, 93

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

93: Imlaystown, New Jersey; Fall, 2011

Well, Gilbert Imlay is a name

Perhaps you’ve never heard at all?

But he was almost one to blame

For Mary Wollstonecraft’s near fall.

They had been lovers—there in France,

The Revolution underway.

She bore his child—he did that dance,

And then he just plain ran away.

She later bore another child,

A girl so bright who would design

A novel that is not so mild,

A novel known as Frankenstein.

And Imlaystown—where Gilbert came

Into the world—a place I’ve been,

Oh, several times. I think his shame

Is more than that—it’s like a sin.

Show Me the Place, 92

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

92: Walt Whitman; Camden, NJ; July 14, 2002

We found a home where Whitman lived—

In Camden—near the street.

A sign outside confirmed the place—

A literary treat.

Not far away is Whitman’s tomb*—

A mass of local stone.

I stood there, thinking Whitman’s words

Make sure we’re not alone.

*in Camden’s Harleigh Cemetery