Katherine Leigh

Dances with Light: Isles of Shoals Poems Katherine Leigh

Dances With Light offers images of the Isles of Shoals, a small group of islands ten miles out from Portsmouth, N. H. Poetry is the one form of word-based expression that best approaches the powerful emotional impact registered in our souls by the beauty of the natural world. On the Isles of Shoals, we behold a severe beauty, a harsh environment of rocks and waves, decorated with a zen-like smattering of native birds and plants. In the past, communities of fishermen attempted to live year-round on Smuttynose, Star, and Appledore Islands. Now the remaining buildings and mere foundations of old homes are preserved in time, as visitors and conference attendees wander the acres, bounded by the restless sea, and, in the quiet of the inner mind, consider the past. Smuttynose Island is known for it's infamous and mysterious murders in 1873, of which many accounts have been written. Star hosts conferences in the summers in the big old hotel, and boasts a charming chapel on the high point of the island. Appledore was home to Celia Thaxter with her gorgeous flower gardens, and is now her final resting place. It now houses a Marine Lab where summer classes are held. Of the seven islands, once described, as seen from above, as "emeralds set in a silver sea", each has it's own personality, offerings, and links to the past, into which this slim volume gives glimpses to the patient reader.