Pine Plantation, January thaw…

Pine plantation, Alwive Pond Preserve, W. Kennebunk Maine

I went inland yesterday on my photo prowl. I managed to find a safe place to park at Kennebunk Plains and walked in to Day Brook Pond, and then went around the loop to Alwive Pond Preserve on the other side of the Mousam and walked back through the pine plantations there. After several days of rain and thaw, it is looking rather winter-worn and the trail, where it has been packed by hikers and snowshoers, is pure ice, but the pine plantation was a strange as ever. A poem.

There are few places stranger than
the pine plantation at Alwive Pond.
The trees all of a kind and all of an
age…my age…or a few years younger,
planted in the early 50s to fill in 
for the fires of 47. And today, in 
a January thaw, the trees stand stark
in the filtered light, unnaturally even, 
holding high a fragile roof against 
the winter sky. The hush is so profound 
it is a presence, behind you, a cowled
multitude, breathing reverence in 
perfect rhythm to your breath. 

Sony Rx10iii in-camera HDR. 24mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Polarr on my iPad Pro for a somewhat high-key effect to bring out the geometry. 

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