“Giant's hand in Sip Pond, Fitzwilliam, NH” for Chamberlain Conservation Area and Monadnock Conservancy
by Swift Corwin
I got an assignment/ challenge to write a poem about The Chamberlain lot on the south end of Sip Pond in Fitzwilliam. I could have, and maybe should have written the poem about the Chamberlain family. It was by their generously that made it possible for Monadnock Conservancy to close on the organization’s first piece of land. Somehow the poem took a different direction. My wife, Beth, and I visited the land one cold and windy February day. We walked out on the ice and over the rocks just to get a feel for the place. Following this, there was no immediate inspiration. About three weeks after visiting the land though, I was headed to Sunapee to ski. All of a sudden, while driving, I got the idea about the giant’s hand. And how that land came to be! I pulled the car over and wrote it down. And the ski day was very satisfying.
Swift Corwin
Apr, 2021
Giant's hand in Sip Pond, Fitzwilliam, NH
Who remembers when the great giant fell on his back as he ran north just short of his reaching Monadnock?
Maybe it was even before the glacier left the hole that made old Sip Pond down in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire.
Now all that is left to show for him is his upturned hand, and a craggy finger pointed north straight to that mountain.
People around here can't remember.
Some don't even think of it.
But, some talk.
There has been nothing conclusive to come of it.
It has been so long since he fell that the muck on either side of the rocky hand has made a bed of blueberries, leatherleaf, black spruce, and larch.
It's a soft resting place on that south shore of the pond.
Mink, otter, bobcat, and beaver mince over the granite boulder wrist as if it belonged to them. They might be chasing mice and red squirrels that have fattened on themselves on pine seeds. Beaver feast on red maple and birch saplings at the edges by the blueberries in the rocks.
And the finger always keeps pointing north into NH.
People visiting might not even notice as they are walking on the point toward Sip Pond that they are on what is left of an upturned hand.
But, then they might.
How could it be possible for a giant this big to have run up through Massachusetts way before it was Massachusetts and make it no farther than to fall on what would become Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, and leave only that hand?
And now it has all turned to rock, resting forever in the mucky blueberry bog pond on the south shore of the pond.
A while back, folks were so fascinated by looking at the rocky finger that they decided to build a cabin. It went up on the west side of the pond, not on hard ground, but the mucky shorefront so that they could get the best view of it.
It is still there, and it looks right out on that giant's rocky fingertip.
That cabin is a popular place judging from the tracks across the ice to it.
It even looks like folks have broken a few windows in it to get a better view.
Somehow the New Hampshire forest, being New Hampshire forest, has decided to make the rocky hand its own. White Pines have grown up in the crags and crevices from wrist to fingertip.
On the last rock of the point, a white pine tree has something like an eagle claw grip holding it fast to his once soft fingertip.
Since the wind mainly blows from the northwest, and sometimes really hard, these roots have grown heavy.
They don't look like they will be letting go anytime soon.
And so here this pine will stand, a Sip Pond south shore beacon for many years to come.
Sometime in the future, more may be known about the giant.
People around here find stuff like this out. They always do.
Swift Corwin has been working in the forest of New Hampshire since 1982. His work, the land, and his family have inspired him to write a number of poems. They are explorations of ideas and twists of perspective made possible by the many places and people that flow through his life. Most of the time, when he is trying to write poems, they elude him. Then when he is not paying attention, there is a knock at the door. When he opens the door, he finds an invitation. When he follows the instructions within, a gift takes form. The world gets quiet around him and he adds it to his collection.
As a land trust for southwestern New Hampshire, the mission of Monadnock Conservancy (monadnockconservancy.org) is to work with communities and landowners to conserve the natural resources, wild and working lands, rural character, and scenic beauty of the Monadnock region. We care for our conservation lands, and we engage people in ways that strengthen their communities and their connections to the land.