I missed these moments of clear cold in New England. Something about it stirs my poet's heart like '40s Swing.
You think S.F. is where poets go, but that was in 1952, when poetry was on paper. I didn't feel anything on the South West Coast. I'm dead to concrete. I didn't know I missed having numb fingers until I had numb fingers.
Just walking around here made poetry spring to mind everywhere. Everything seems to be worth talking about. Kids skating on a frozen lake. Using a shoe for a hockey puck. Every moment seems sigh-worthy. Two golden retrievers looking for their master. Snow banks against a fence. No sign of birds. Ice. To me at least this is winter. When I was in L.A. or S.F. it seemed the poet part of me was dead, supplanted by a desire to swim all year round and wear $200 jeans. This is part of the reason I wanted to come to New England for this winter, to resurrect that poet and see what he has to say for himself.
This is some kind of granite planter box behind the library. I thought it was a fireplace and I suppose it could be used for that.
The tracks leading to new vistas...a sign says this is an active track but I haven't seen a train. The depot is a bar called the Black Cat.
This is the Library where Courtney works...
The town square and congregational church in downtown Laconia. Could be 1890.
Bird house near Library. Empty.
Opechee Bay north of Laconia. Frozen solid for ice fishing and hockey.
Chief Sachem, the mascot of Laconia school district. This was carved with a chainsaw.
Irresistible slice of pepperoni pizza. Fresh and hot. I give it high marks for delivery. The oil was bright red denoting excellent grade beef. The crust was chewy and tasty. $2. And I think they made it in 4 minutes so that's speedy and good.
Laconia has one of the highest pizza place:person ratio. There are at least 11 places to buy a pizza.
Here's R. Rooms...an old victorian. You can rent that little watchtower for $85. It's big enough for a couch.
The Spa, with $3 six packs of 18 ounce PBRs, and Happy Jacks tabacco shop.
A long shot of the house on Church Street. You can see El Conquistador on the left there hidden from the police...I live in the back carriage house. It looks like a barn (was a barn) but it is connected by an unheated corridor. Laconia has many big houses that are now boarding houses. Lots of11 bedroom houses. It's odd. We think R Rooms was an old brothel.
The tracks again...
You gotta click on this one to see the squirrel jumping. There are at least 3 squirrels in this picture. Can you spot them all?
The winter here is not like the arctic. People and animals lead normal lives. There were four squirrels chasing each other around. I think they were getting freaky too...making baby squirrels. I guess if you want to get freaky you got to jump from one branch to the other. Take risks.
I noticed there are like 5 different American Flags in these random pictures. Like I couldn't go ten feet without seeing an American Flag. I just randomly took these pictures and only now do I see that the flags are in the background everywhere. There's some essay in that but I'm not going to write it now. I've got an orange to eat. Maybe it's the simple fact that I live in America and New Hampshire folks like to remind everyone where they are. Like, during any given argument a man might be able to say, "Da ya know wha' cahntry ya in?" and turn and point. "'merica!"
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