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# Land's End
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/lands-end/
- Published: 2026-08-09T13:23:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-09T13:23:00.000Z
- Description: “Land's End,” a note on dining on the rocky ledge of a Maine island, written Sunday, August 09, 2026 poem 221 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo: "Steamed Lobsta," by Diana Ludwick © 2026.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Culinary, Eating and Drinking, Generational, Of Place, Poems, Cove, High Summer, Land's End, Lobsta, Lobster, Maine, Summer, Vacationland, Whole Bellied Clams, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

We're in a land where it takes   
fifty-one minutes to drive seven miles  
because it's all coastland   
and bridges and islands and pine trees  
and the little cafe we navigate to   
sits atop a rocky ledge that drops into the cove.  
The fried seafood is caught right off the coast,   
mere hours from the water,   
before their buttermilk dredge and final roil in a fryolator.   
We are at land's end, on the brink of the ocean,   
guarded by granite coastline and a merry bobbing of boats.  
Outside, tall ships sail pass motorboats.  
Enormous red white and blue flags snap in the breeze.  
Clumps of seaweeds float on the surface of the ebbing tide.   
Sun streams through the window,   
alighting on beet salad and local brew.  
While a tableside skirmish breaks out over a purloined frite  
the group quiets when the whole bellied clams drop in from overhead,   
guided by a servers' steady hands.  
A grateful quiet spreads, with only   
the gnashing of butter-drenched lobster knuckles  
and a masticating of local coleslaw piercing the sea-damp air.  
Our lips smack, our cheeks raise high, smiles break out.  
This is high summer in Maine,   
all drawn butter and crustaceans and crispy local greens  
and generations aligned by a pursuit of August's best bounty.