Poem for Sunday and Ellicott City

Lucky
By Hiram Larew

I’ve never been able to add right
Somehow for me one plus one turns into black wavy hair
And all the stars up there—they just become
Eyes glancing down.
Even as a kid when I overheard someone counting
All I could think of was skin.
I am just estimated
Like how straw scatters in wind.
Things are almost too much for me—
When I dream of vast prairies
Or am in a crowd of luck
I’m stunned by so much desire.
In fact lately I’ve realized that
When a tally is taken
I’ll be the chewed pencil.

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From the Little Patuxent Review's Summer 2017 issue, a publication started by Ellicott City poet Laura Shovan.

We spent most of Saturday in Ellicott City with Alice, Jeremy, and Avery, plus I got to see Kate who was in the neighborhood! We met the Duehrings at Dimitri's Grill for Greek food, then drove into town, visited the B&O Station Museum which still has its holiday train displays up, and did some shopping at the comic and toy stores as well as the Forget-Me-Not Factory which is my favorite shop in the state. We also visited the Patapsco Women's Institute, although the grounds were closed so we couldn't see any of the reputed ghosts.

When we got home we were still full from lunch and the chocolates we got in Ellicott City's excellent candy store, which had to relocate after the flood that destroyed much of the town a couple of years ago including our favorite Asian restaurant there. So we had bagels for dinner while watching the Four Continents skating championships. Maddy stopped by with a friend from work who turned out to be a former middle school crush of Adam's childhood friend. Now we're waiting for SNL. Here are some photos from Ellicott City:


Model trains at the Ellicott City B&O Station Museum.


Alice took this photo in front of the museum.


And I took this one of her family by the caboose out back.


Here is Paul inside the caboose.


And here he is with Alice's family looking at the Lego train display.


We had lunch at Dimitri's in Catonsville.


The bar has a big Orioles mural instead of Greek decor.


We also visited the Forget-Me-Not Factory.


And we met Kate in town and all went to the ruins of the Patapsco Women's Institute together.