The End of the Pier

Poets and Storytellers United 

 Friday Writings #82: Favorite Books

"...write poetry or prose which includes the complete title of one of your favorite books. And if you’re feeling extra generous, tell me why your chosen title is a favorite."

I sit at The End of the Pier

gazing off into the distance,

to squint past the hazy horizon.

 

There’s nothing to see;

there never has been.

The Pier is the End of the world.

 

I sit at The End of the Pier

alone, no one ever sees me here

to question why I come.

 

I watch the sun as it slowly drowns,

coloring the sea blood-red

 in its death throes.

 

I sit at The End of the Pier

wishing I were sinking with the sun,

longing to

 

 step off the pier,

to walk on moonbeams

as they rise from the sun’s ashes.

©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

The End of the Pier is by Martha Grimes.  If you are familiar with her as the author of the Richard Jury novels, and don't care for them, let me say, the writing in these (a series... sort of) is completely different.  You wouldn't know they were by the same author.  Now, I chose The End of the Pier as one of my favorite books.  It is one of my favorites.   It introduces us to the characters in what is called the "Emma Graham Series,"  Hotel Paradise, Cold Flat Junction, Belle Ruin, and Fadeaway Girl.  I much prefer those to The End of the Pier.  For one, I felt The End of the Pier made a better title to include in a poem than Hotel Paradise.   For two, The End of the Pier isn't really the first in the series.  For some reason it is set in the 1980s, with references to the music and movies of the time, while introducing the characters who appear in the five other novels, which are set decades earlier, perhaps the '40s.  They are much better.  Please, if you read them, read them in order.  A plus to Hotel Paradise in paperback is the cover from Edward Hopper's Hotel Lobby! 

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