Setting Sail

It's been a summer of travel for us - I've been home a week from a trip to Upper Michigan. (One reason why I didn't post a poem last week - the drive home wore me out!) Now, I'm preparing for the next trip - setting sail on Monday for an Alaskan cruise. We are excited!

Back to the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) - one of the stops we make when we visit Gladstone is to a wonderful little used bookstore called Frigate Books. The owner homeschooled her children, has a wonderful eye for great books, and is always patient with my children's enthusiasm and my lack of attention to details (like having enough cash to pay for our purchases).

This summer, I asked about poems from local poets - looking for poems to share for Poetry Wednesday. As we discussed poems, she shared with me the poem behind the name of her store.

So - as I prepare to set sail, both literally & figuratively (since I'm about to grab a book and head for bed) - here is the inspiration behind Frigate Books. If you're ever in Gladstone, Michigan, be sure to stop in. After lunch, though, because she works at K-Mart in Escanaba until 11 a.m.

There is no frigate like a book
to take us lands away

Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing Poetry -

This Traverse may the poorest take
without oppress of Toll -

how frugal is the Chariot
that bears the Human Soul.
-Emily Dickinson

(by the way - the picture above is an actual frigate, courtesy of flikr)