Finding Salem

When I was about 8 my mom decided to take me on a trip. I did not understand at the time that she was running away. We went to Salem, MA which was about 200 miles from our house. We went to the museum there and saw a presentation about the torture and insanity of the trials. [Fun fact, it is still the exact same presentation that is given today. The wax figures are a little worse for the wear, but 50+ years later the story still has impact.] We pulled over on that trip and I could hear her explaining to my dad that we were okay, but she just had to get away. It took me years to understand the true impact and how she must have felt.

You escaped and gave me the map / A guide at seven / Searching for your sun / So much pressure on that tiny lap

I learned about a world / Where leaving / was a joyous treason and / the flag of independence unfurled

Those lesson – essential / for her denied, to me offered / an expanding potential

Lessons in leaping / opened a life akimbo where / there was no adventure in the keeping