Writings
Gluskabe's River
By
Marnie Reed Crowell
All night long
as the storm tracks by
southerly winds from out at sea
push ocean back into the bay.
Hear Gluskabe
paddling by in his stone canoe,
the shouts and smacks
as he urges Penobscot River
back,
back by waves,
back past the Eggemoggin Reach,
on beyond the quiet Bagaduce,
through the place where a sinewed seam
stitches sky from bank to bank,
on beyond Bangor,
rippling round the Indian Island,
on to Orono, to Millinocket,
threading through Maine Woods,
till pure and clear
what's left of water
-clouds-
reach Wabanaki heart,
Katahdin
and regroup
For yet another schussing run
downriver through the towns and mills,
out to dawn
and sea.
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"WUCHOWSEN"
OR How Glooscap Tames the Wind
Story Behind the Penobscot Narrows Logo
The logo for the Penobscot Narrows Bridge was chosen both as an artistic representation of the cable stayed pylon that contains the Penobscot Observatory and a thoughtful focal point for the historical and cultural lore of the Penobscot Region. When you first look at the logo you'll be able to discern the outline of the Penobscot Observatory, accessible through historic Fort Knox at the narrows just below Bucksport. On a clear day, from your vantage point 40 stories aboe the river, you'll be able to see up the Penobscot River to Mount Katahdin and out across Penobscot Bay to the Gulf of Maine. The Blue Sky and sparkling blue waters are captured in the color of the logo. The cable stays can be construed as the fletching on a giant arrow flying up the watershed. Others see them as the oars on a boat that could have been captained by Esteban Gomez in 1525, rowed by the gig from Captain George Weymouth's ship Archangel in 1605 or kedged upriver by colonial crews fleeing British Warships during the ill fated Penobscot Expedition of 1779. Some are the unbroken blue portion of the logo as a representation of the Penobscot watershed from the lakes around Mount Katahdin in the north flowing together through Bangor to its mouth near Bucksport and Searsport where it flares outward to form Penobscot Bay. On further perusal you may discern the outline of a bird and think its representative of the eagles and ospreys that circle near the observatory during the spring of the year. The image of a bird in flight, or just sitting and stretching its wings, brings to mind the story of how Glooscap tamed the wind on Penobscot Bay...
Many years ago, when Glooscap was just a young man, he enjoyed hunting waterfowl from his stone canoe as he paddled around the islands and shoreline of Penobcot Bay. There came a day that was so windy Glooscap couldn't go to sea at all. After several days of gale force wind the people began to despair. Glooscap said "Wuchowsen", the Great Wind Bird is doing this". And he set out to find him. Wuchowsen lives far to the north where he sits on a large rock at the end of the sky ad creates the wind by moving his wings. After several days of searching, Glooscap found hilm and asked if he had no compassion for his grandchildren, as he was creating such storms and gales; could he be easier with his great wings.
Wuchowsen replied "I have been here since earlisest tilmes. Before anyone or anything was around to speak or make a sound, I first moved my wings. Mine ws the first voice. And I shall ever continue to move my wings as I will." Whereupon Glooscap became angry, rose u and seized Wuchowsen as hewould a duck, bound his wings and threw him into a deep ravine where he could not move. Then the people enjoyed a dead calm and went out in their canoes until after several weeks and months the waters became stagnant and thickened until even Glooscap couldn't paddle his canoe. Then Glooscap thought again of the GreatBird and went to see him.
Raising him up from the ravine, he carried him back to his rock at the end of the sky and set free one wof his wings. Since his return the winds are quieter as Wuchowsen looks over the world from his place high above the Penobscot. * Enjoy your view from the Penobscot Observatory, let your imagination soar and tell us what you saw. You'll be in good company. www.penobscotnarrowsbridgefest.com
*Joseph Campbell. Historical Atlas of World Mythology. Vol II: The Way of the Seeded Earth. Part 2 Mythologies of the Primitive Planters: The North Americans. P 186.
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Old and The New
By Dave Davis - Orland
Looking out across the bay
Through a rain drizzled window
The familiar landmarks such as
Fort Knox are hidden
by drifting fog swirling
up off the water which
brings a pop up show of
the old and the new bridges.
Side by side.
The white strings of the new one
Fanned from tall end towers
To bridge floor
Waiting to be strummed ----
slowly fades from view.
The lifting fog shows
now
The lesser bridge below
The new
Still giving service for the
Busy traffic, lo these
Many years.
Looking sad with peeling
green paint falling to
the tide waters below.
Will no one remember?
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Not Taken Lightly
By Lynne Findlay - Verona Island
Millions of dollars for a bridge
That we can't afford to light?
What is it about this picture
That just does not seem right
With all the initial planning
How could it get so out of hand
Something sure got screwed up
In their master plan
With necklace lighting on the bridge
And lights soaring upward toward the sky
Making ables and pylons all aglow
But not to the bridge deck, why?
We can't look at the towering pylons
Admire the many cables sweeping low
While traveling over the bridge at night
Eyes glued to the darkened road
Now the big debate is ongoing
How to light the thoroughfare
Place them high - place them low
How to avoid the plows and glare
Light the span like a Christmas tree
Just three months not enough I fear
We must observe where we are going
All twelve months of the year.
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THE NARROWS BRIDGE:
THE PENOBSCOT KEEPS SMILING AT ME
Dedicated by Rudy Deetjen
To the men and women who created
THE PENOBSCOT NARROWS BRIDGE
HIGH IN HE SKY, YET REACHING THE SHORE,
A DREAM WE CAN DRIVE,
AND A BID TO EXPLORE..
THE NARROWS ARE SPANNED,
BUT THE VIEW IS MUCH MORE.....
THE PENOBSCOT IS SMILING AT ME.
A NECKLACE OF STEEL, WITH TOWERS OF LIGHT,
THE BEAUTY IS REAL
IN DAYTIME OR NIGHT,
THE BRIDGE WILL AGREE,
THEY SURE DID IT RIGHT,
AND CROWNED THE OLD WAY TO THE SEA!
NOW ANYONE CURIOUS WHERE DOWNEAST CAN BE,
WILL NEVER GROW FURIOUS
HOW FAR IT COULD BE.
THIS GATEWAY'S AN ARCH,
A LAUCHING FOR FREE,
YOU'RE ALREADY HERE,
IN GOD'S SCENERY!
SO, WELCOME TO SALT AIR, TO LOBSTERS AND SAIL,
THE BRIDGE IS YOUR RAINBOW,
OUR PRAYERS HAVE NOT FAILED.
VACATIONLAND BECKONS
AND MAINE IS YOUR TRAIL.
WHILE THE PENOBSCOT KEEPS SMILING.....
(NOWONDER SHE'S SMILING)...
THAT RIVER KEEPS SMILING ,
AT ME!
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