BIOLUMINESCENCE ON THE MASSACHUSETTS NORTH SHORE

Before I slept in a van at highway rest stops, in transit center parking lots, and at quiet trailhead pull-offs, I woke up every morning in a house in the middle of the Massachusetts North Shore. During the winter, I was pulled ever northward toward deeper snow and taller mountains; but spring, when it came, was a welcome excuse to play on the miles of coastline thawing out in the east. Summer was all salt and seaweed. On most days, there was at least one bathing suit pinched under the glass of my Jeep’s liftgate, legs flapping in the wind like a pair of salvaged prayer flags, spitting sand onto the road in my wake.

All of my seasonal wanderings have undoubtedly been influenced by memories of childhood car rides to the coast. Even as a kid too short to reach the gas pedal, I was well-acquainted