M Stevens-David
M Stevens-David
'Columbia - The Seven' - Poem by Martha Stevens-David
First in a Series of 'Tuesday Poems' by Martha Stevens-David. Martha is a prolific writer of many styles including Children's stories and poetry.
Feb 9, 2010 - 12:25:20 AM
M Stevens-David
Diary of Death
I am no longer aware of time or anything else except what is on my television screen. I hear and see that the second tower has begun to lean ominously and ABC News is stating that the second tower is going to fall too! Suddenly, the air is filled with news flashes and a new word is beginning to emerge. Terrorists!
Feb 7, 2010 - 12:15:57 AM
M Stevens-David
Dippy Doodle Duck
Mama Duck was a very good mother and she never left her nest. Every now and then she'd lift her large, fluffy bottom a little and look at the big egg.
Jan 31, 2010 - 12:15:22 AM
M Stevens-David
Vengeance is Mine Pt 4
Sometimes, when all of her other patients were sound asleep, she'd slip into Mrs. Stanton's room and stand quietly by the door and look at her. There was something acutely familiar about the way the woman's face looked when in repose and it disturbed Mary Elizabeth that she couldn't figure out what it was that drew her to that particular patient.
Jan 30, 2010 - 12:33:36 AM
M Stevens-David
Vengeance is Mine Pt. 3
"Oh, Mary, Mother of God, what are we going to do with her?" Hearing the sadness in her voice, the young Nun reached down and picked up the child. She turned and thrust the baby into the Mother Superior's arms. "I don't know about you but, God wants us to keep her or she wouldn't be here." she said. "And from what I heard, aren't you this child's aunt?"
Jan 29, 2010 - 12:25:39 AM
M Stevens-David
Vengeance is Mine Pt. 2
As she felt the size of the fetus, she felt sick to her stomach. "She's not six and a half months gone," she thought to herself, "She's more likely closer to eight months along, if she's a day." The Nun looked up and her eyes met Mother Superiors.
Jan 28, 2010 - 12:10:37 AM
M Stevens-David
Vengeance is Mine Pt.1
By ten o'clock that morning, the town was abuzz with the news. The largely Catholic population couldn't believe their ears. Dead babies found out at the old Nunnery! That was unbelievable! It was like saying that a spaceship had landed on Main Street in Fort Kent and the aliens were handing out lollipops!
Jan 27, 2010 - 12:20:54 AM
M Stevens-David
Mr. Bunners & the Snowman
Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard a lot of jibber, jabbering in the air above him. He jumped up and hopped out of his hiding place just in time to see his two friends, Bubber and Flubber Crow as they flew away into the cool fall air.
Jan 25, 2010 - 12:15:45 AM
M Stevens-David
The Maine Pine Tree
The little tree didn't really know how he had come to be, he just was. He looked all around him and all he could see was tall, green grass for miles and miles. Why, he really wasn't as tall as the grass and he only had three small branches growing on his trunk.
Jan 21, 2010 - 12:43:45 AM
M Stevens-David
To Those I Love: A Poem by M. Stevens-David
I wrote that poem for an 18 year-old girl who had gone into her backyard to take the clothes off her mother's clothesline and a hunter mistook her for a deer and he killed her. So sad. I wrote the poem but never gave it to her parents because I didn't know them. Martha
Jan 10, 2010 - 12:14:42 AM
M Stevens-David
The Cardiologist
When we related this story to our friends and relatives, nobody believed us at first, but when we told them that it was the absolute truth, everyone was incredulous! This couldn't have happened, especially at a very fine hospital in a very excellent doctor's office in Lewiston, Maine. But it did, it really did! And oh yes, the only thing I changed in the story was the doctor's name.
Jan 1, 2010 - 12:20:09 AM
M Stevens-David
The Christmas Pie
I admired his chef-manship and waited for him to be seated before cutting into my slice. He picked up his fork with a look of a man who has waited for something for a very long time and cut off a piece.
Dec 31, 2009 - 12:14:26 AM
M Stevens-David
The Reluctant Repairman
"Yah want to know what's really wrong with these friggin machines? Well they're state of the art that what they are, en they're really too smart fer most people!" With another contemptuous look in my direction, he went stamping down the cellar stairs and out the garage door, hopefully never to be seen again!
Dec 6, 2009 - 12:20:50 AM
M Stevens-David
The Fishing Pole
Our Great Uncle Hal had a fishing pole that he treasured beyond anything else. He'd saved his money for a long time and finally, when he had enough, he'd sent all the way down to L. L. Beans in Freeport to get it.
Jul 13, 2009 - 11:03:36 AM
M Stevens-David
Potatoes
It was now the end of May and winter still had not shown any inclination of relinquishing her hold on the county. Oh, sure, there had been the odd couple of days, here and there, when the ever-present wind had died a little and the inhabitants of our small Aroostook County, Maine town had dared to hope that there had been a reprieve, but it didn't happen.
Jun 26, 2009 - 12:23:53 PM
M Stevens-David
Tha Trash Nazi
Jake kicked the living room door shut with the heel of his scuffed sneaker and threw his jacket into his father's old recliner. His mother, hearing the sound of the old oak door being so harshly treated, stuck her head around the corner of the living room wall and looked intently at her youngest son.
Jun 18, 2009 - 12:26:17 PM
M Stevens-David
Stolen Apples
Up over the hill behind our house, on land owned by our nearest neighbor, Les Page, was an old apple orchard that had been planted by his great grandfather. No one had bothered with the orchard for a long time and by the time we were growing up a lot of the trees were already dead or dying. During apple season, us Stevens' kids used to pull commando raids on that apple orchard every chance we got.
Jun 17, 2009 - 11:07:01 AM
M Stevens-David
Cowboys & Turkeys
Our Dad, William James Stevens, was born in Castle Hill, in Aroostook County, Maine on January 19, 1915, the oldest son of James William Stevens and Eunice Robinson. Being of Scot and Swedish ancestry, in adulthood, he stood about six feet tall and weighed around one hundred sixty-five pounds. As long as he lived, his weight never did catch-up to his raw-boned frame.
Apr 1, 2009 - 10:37:28 PM
M Stevens-David
Revenge Is Sweet
Our nearest neighbors on the Goding Road were the Porter family which was comprised of five children and a mother. It was generally rumored around town that each child had a different father but that didn't matter much to us kids. We were just happy to have some other kids to play or fight with other than our own brothers and sisters.
Mar 27, 2009 - 11:17:27 AM
M Stevens-David
Tha Bear
Old Piney Woodsman had a really bad habit and this habit drove everyone who knew him just a little bit crazy. He had the habit of stretching the truth just a little and some folks thought that he stretched the truth more than just a little, if the truth be told.
Mar 26, 2009 - 2:58:27 PM
M Stevens-David
Emma
When I was growing up in Aroostook County during the fifty's and sixty's, as in most small towns, many of the people who lived around us were related to us in one way or another. One of those who come to mind was a woman named Emma Goodrich.
Mar 14, 2009 - 7:00:27 PM
M Stevens-David
Tippy
Mother said that she would never forget the day that the animal came limping up the dusty, dirt road to our house. It was the middle of a very hot August for Aroostook County, Maine and Mother had risen at her usual five to feed Dad and get him off to work. She had gotten the three oldest children out of the house to walk the two miles up the dirt road to the Old South School and her day was already long.
Feb 24, 2009 - 12:12:05 PM
M Stevens-David
The Waiting Room
There's something about "free" services that brings out the best or worse in people or at least that's what I've always found. Why do I say this? Let me explain.
Feb 16, 2009 - 2:16:52 PM
M Stevens-David
The Hot Flash
In nineteen ninety-four, my whole life, as I knew it, changed drastically. I was sailing through life, quite happy with whom I was and what I had accomplished throughout the years, but alas, over night, menopause hit and everything changed.
Feb 12, 2009 - 11:26:16 AM
M Stevens-David
Tha Huntin Trip
Nineteen fifty-five had been a good year for Dad. The potatoes that he'd so lovingly and patiently nursed along all year had been dug and the yield had been better than expected. And now that the bulk of the harvest had been sold, Dad could breathe a sigh of relief and take a little time off. These breaks were few and far between and he was due for a rest. He always looked forward to a few good fishin trips each year in the early spring before the potatoes demanded all of his attention and now that the first mark of fall was on the trees, Dad's blood stirred with the long anticipated annual hunting trip up to Musquacook with his boys, Walt and Jake.
Jan 8, 2009 - 1:43:29 PM
M Stevens-David
The Age Game
It really started when I was about sixteen, this little harmless game that I played with myself and others. One would think that one ages fast enough that one wouldn't want to make oneself seem chronologically older but the human mind often works in funny and inexplicable ways. It is a kind of psychological game that I have carried with me throughout all the years but alas, it has finally come to an end. I can understand at sixteen, wanting to appear older but as I aged, well, it all went a little bit like this.
Dec 29, 2008 - 3:28:17 PM
M Stevens-David
Tha Boots
In 1954 Dad fell in love. But the really odd thing about this new-found love affair wasn't that he fell in love with another woman and his strange feelings didn't bother Mother one dite. You see, Dad fell in love with a pair of hunting boots.
Dec 16, 2008 - 11:03:20 AM
M Stevens-David
The Bath - Part Two
August 2008 arrived once again and so did Peyton. I couldn't believe a year had passed since her last summer's visit and now that she was ten, I expected a lot of changes and I wasn't disappointed either. Since her mother was attending conferences in Arizona for her final preparation for her Doctoral dissertation, we had arranged to drive from Minot, Maine down to Newington, New Hampshire to pick her up for her two week stay.
Dec 8, 2008 - 11:53:03 AM
M Stevens-David
Protocol of Potato Picking
Growing up in Aroostook County, Maine, we knew a lot about potatoes, not because we were particularly interested in them but because they were always all around us and dad worked with that specie all of his natural life.
Nov 1, 2008 - 12:01:00 AM
M Stevens-David
Prayers
Every Sunday, throughout the Ashland area in Aroostook County, Maine the churches of all the different denominations would ring their bells and church-going folks would hurry off to their respective houses of worship. Competition for the lost and sliding souls among the churches was fierce and God help you if you didn't belong to what each group considered the "best" church and the "best" church was the group you happened to be talking to at the moment.
Oct 31, 2008 - 9:42:11 PM
M Stevens-David
Philbert
The residents of Aroostook County, Maine generally consider themselves to be conservative by nature and it usually takes quite a while for new styles and fads to catch on. When the news finally reached Ashland that longer hairstyles were "in" for men, the news was greeted with wholehearted enthusiasm. The entire male population heaved a sigh that was equal to a condemned man's relief, when he hears that his death sentence has been rescinded.
Oct 23, 2008 - 10:38:12 AM
M Stevens-David
Outhouse Rules
In all his years of married life, there was only one place where Dad wasn't bothered by anyone, with the exception of flies, midges, mosquitoes, moose flies, deerflies and spiders. Dad, overwhelmed and outnumbered by his family, besides mother there were five girls and three boys, escaped to this quiet retreat as often as he possibly could.
Oct 13, 2008 - 12:30:55 PM
M Stevens-David
Snooky Long
By the time Snooky was born, his parents were well into their forties and after trying for years, they'd finally given up on ever having a child of their own. At birth, he didn't look at all like most of the other newborn babies. He already looked older than the other babies and his skin had a slightly olive cast to it. He had a profusion of pitch black hair which stood straight up on his little round head. His face was oval and he had his father's decidedly pointed chin. His nose, which was slightly pointed, gave him a fox-like appearance but it was his eyes that one really paid attention to. They were jet black and there was a shine to them that most people's eyes didn't have. Even when he was real little, he had a way of fixing his black, shiny eyes directly on a person and this made folks feel very uncomfortable because he never seemed to blink.
Oct 13, 2008 - 12:21:38 PM
M Stevens-David
Great Aunt Cassie
She was our great aunt but us Stevens' kids always called her Aunt Cassie. She only stood about five feet tall in her stocking feet but she had more drive and energy in her little finger than most people had in their whole body. There wasn't anything that she couldn't or wouldn't do if she put her mind to it. To me, she was the epitome of the true American pioneer spirit.
Sep 22, 2008 - 2:05:35 PM
M Stevens-David
Mother
Mother, most of all was a true survivor. There wasn't anything, if she put her mind to it, she couldn't do. She cooked, knit, wallpapered, painted, sawed, sanded and sewed. She tore old clothes apart and made new ones for us out of them. If there were any scraps leftover, she'd use the remnants to make patchwork blankets. She never threw anything away.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:00:57 AM
M Stevens-David
Maple Syrup
Aroostook County is infamous for her snowstorms. One particular storm that I remember will stay in my mind forever. It is the time we had a particularly heavy Northeaster. The storm slid into Maine from the east. It had been trapped by an arctic flow that had dipped down into the county from Canada. The storm revolved where it was for the better part of three days and left five feet of heavily packed snow before moving off into the Canadian Maritimes.
Sep 3, 2008 - 12:37:57 PM
M Stevens-David
The Kerosene Can
Mother swore as she hit her thumb on the side of the iron grate of our old kerosene cook stove that she was cleaning. She wiped her hands on her apron and examined her thumb more closely. "It hurts like hell but it's too far from tha heart to kill me!" she said to the room at large and to no one in particular and continued polishing the old stove.
Aug 27, 2008 - 9:13:20 AM
M Stevens-David
The Flame Thrower
The very same summer of 1991, that my husband bought me my Craftsman lawn tractor; he also made me another present. All summer long while I so diligently kept the lawn so beautifully mowed, he'd had the thankless job of trimming the grass that grew so abundantly along our five rock walls. He'd eye the new growth all week long, knowing that come Saturday, there was another trimming job waiting for him because for some obscure reason, I'd been unable to learn how to use that noisy, dangerous machine. I'd become proficient in the use of the rototiller, the lawn sprayer, the lawn edger and all the other machines one needs to keep their property in pristine condition but me and the weed eater didn't like each other one dite!
Aug 16, 2008 - 11:31:00 AM
M Stevens-David
The Manure Spreader
Hugh McHatten stopped the tractor just short of the barn doors and swung around in the seat to look back over the field that he'd just dressed. He jist loved this job. Yes-sir, there was something about spreading manure that made him feel good. Some people would say that this was a nasty, smelly job but Hughy didn't care. There was something about loadin the spreader right to the top and then driving back and forth across the empty fields and seein the manure flying out the back onto the ground. He jist loved it! After all, it didn't cost him nothin; it was poor man's fertilizer.
Aug 12, 2008 - 10:29:39 AM
M Stevens-David
Uncle
Besides our Great Uncle Hal, one of my other favorite relatives was my grandfather's brother whom we affectionately called Uncle Barney or Uncle. He was really our great uncle but we always called him Uncle Barney.
Aug 12, 2008 - 10:15:27 AM
|
