Up There

Poetry can present us, the readers, with an icon which stores itself in our visual memory and responds to the summons of our imagination. In her poem "Up There," open mike poet Rosemary presented the audience with an image illustrated by the painted smiling blue whale that she held up before beginning her reading. Many in the audience remember that whale in its glory, welcoming customers to Yoken's Restaurant. Almost all have seen the whale in its present tarp-wrapped shape, presiding over an empty lot. — Pat Parnell

Up There

Lafayette Road. Whale sighting up ahead.

Stop! Please!

Let me out of this car right now

so I can run out there with a huge sign,

"SAVE THIS WHALE!"

Mr. Yoken's whale, I hate it that

someone's got you all covered up

in a big blue tarp. All but the left side

where one eye remains open.

Shouldn't they at least have

put that eye in a jar to preserve it?

Why'd they do that to you anyway?

Maybe it's so you can peek out

at the world and say,

"THAR SHE BLOWS!"

— Rosemary

Rosemary, a resident of Eliot, Maine, is a singer-songwriter and poet who teaches art at a Portsmouth preschool. Sharing her memories of Yoken's, Rosemary said, "As a child I used to eat at Yoken's with my family. We always met relatives there for lunch. My family liked to sit in a booth; they were so very comfy. I loved getting a key to use on the locked treasure chest that was in the gift shop. I loved the whale sign out front. It looked happy and friendly. It was lit up, and its taillights and flashing fins and waterspout would flicker around. Yoken's was a landmark, and I miss it."