Nahant: Poetry by the Sea

BETTY GOLDMAN

BETTY GOLDMAN lived on Little Nahant and was active in the Nahant Garden Club before moving away. “ Nahant Observed ” was included in the 74 page Nahant Voices published in 1984 by the Nahant Arts Association and the Friends of the Nahant Public Library. Nahant Voices was an outgrowth of the Nahant Arts Association’s annual summer arts festival. In “Nahant Observed,” the metaphors in the second verse bring the Nahant Coast Guard Station to life.

NAHANT OBSERVED

Warm beige brick – garlands over double doors
Fitting entrance to Town Hall
Where feelings are aired – fences mended
Taxes collected – bills rendered
Town affairs conducted within warm beige brick
Classically adorned.

Mounted on the beach as a sentinel
Looking at times like a huge whitecap
Rising out of the fog,
The Coast Guard Station stands up to the sea
Which can never quite engulf it.

from: Nahant Voices (Nahant, MA: Nahant Arts Association / Friends of the Nahant Public Library) 1984.