From the Editor

Siempre Mas

12” x 9” oil Stan Moeller

Featuring original works of fine art, photography, and limited- edition prints by regional and local artists. 372 Fore Street Portland, Maine 04101 207 874-8084 www.forestreetgallery.com

The Secret Forest

Wallace Stevens writes about “the palm at the end of the mind.” But to my delight, some Mainers keep a bright-burning secret passion for the voluptuous closer to home.

Former Portland mayor Anne Pringle tends a secret forest.

“I, for one, have a full sized (nine-foottall) bitter orange tree (calmodium orange) in my bedroom,” she confesses. That’s right, a secret tree ‘from away.’

Her indoor tree “comes from the seed of a small tree that my husband had in college when we first met on a blind date. We used to take it outside in the summer, which spurred its growth and set its fruit buds. When I got a big crop of bitter oranges (maybe 40 or so), I’d make a three-fruit marmalade (my bitter oranges, grapefruit, and regular oranges). I got a small yield of maybe five jars, which I hoard or share with very special friends…it is now so big, we can’t get it outdoors.”

Dreams are like that. Note her use of “special friends.” Sure, we Mainers always claim to love winter, and we do, we really do, I promise, but we all share a hidden sneaker for summer that runs so deep we don’t dare whine about it when the snow banks are seven feet tall. In fact, the more it’s kept away from us, out of reach, the more deliciously sensual summer is when it finally arrives. Until then, even while winter pounds on the door, we hide July in our living rooms, in our minds, in our hearts until all the ice breaks in the lakes with the big booming sound (another March sensation few are privileged to hear), and the result isn’t just seasonal, it’s collectively personal, fragrant…sexy.

As Thoreau writes in Walden, “…Weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes. When the warmer days come, those who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery.”

“I’m also growing several other small fruit trees,” Pringle intimates, “including clementine trees, grown from seeds from a box of clementines purchased at Hannaford, and several key limes, grown from seeds from a tree at a villa we rented on Vieques Island off Puerto Rico. My plan is to grow these to size so they can become the centerpieces of a new ‘orangerie’ in Deering Oaks, including camellias, gardenias, and a small cafe…”

“Kings! Kings! Kings! Kings!” Gilbert Sorrentino writes in The Orangery, “Ah, the streets of dream.” No wonder winter-lashed New Englanders have carved pineapples on the tips of their bedposts for centuries.

On the internet, Patricia on iVillage GardenWeb whispers the confidence, “I have an indoor blood orange tree [that I keep] in a room that’s like a heated porch–and I live in Maine.” So much for Yankees being cold. Cool state (very cool, actually), warm hearts. BTW, we’re naked under our snowsuits. Even if this emotional construct to homes and gardens is rarely if ever peeled away, I know you’re keeping the flame alive, somewhere, somehow, the notion of a secret, indoor forest. Here, take this orange–let me peel it for you.

Portland tM

Bringing You the Best of Maine

722 congress street, Portland, Maine 04102 Phone: (207) 7754339 Fax: (207) 7752334 email: staff@portlandmonthly.com www.portlandmagazine.com

Colin Sargent Founding editor & Publisher editor@portlandmonthly.com

art & Production

Nancy Sargent art director

Jesse Stenbak Production Manager staff@portlandmonthly.com Robert T. Witkowski design director advertising Jane Stevens advertising director jane@portlandmonthly.com

Karen L. Gilbert advertising executive karen@portlandmonthly.com

Amy L. Reynolds graphic designer/ customer service representative portlandads@gmail.com

Colin S. Sargent advertising/Production editorial Jason Hjort Publisher’s assistant · Webmaster

Diane Hudson goings on · Flash · reviews Brigitta M. Jenner copy editing Cynthia Farr-Weinfeld contributing Photographer accounting Alison Hills controller ah@portlandmonthly.com interns Benjamin Boutin, Catherine Ann Felcman, Kimberly Williams subscriPtions to subscribe please send your address and a check for $39 (1 yr.), $55 (2 yrs.), or $65 (3 yrs.) to

Portland Magazine 722 Congress Street Portland ME 04102

or subscribe online at www.portlandmagazine.com

Portland Magazine is published by sargent Publishing, inc. all correspondence should be addressed to 722 congress street, Portland, Me 04102. advertising office: 722 congress street, Portland, Me 04102 (207) 7754339. repeat internet rights are understood to be purchased with all stories and artwork. For questions regarding advertising invoicing and payments, call alison hills. newsstand cover date: February/March 2009, published in January 2009, vol. 24, no. 1, copyright 2009. Portland Magazine is mailed at thirdclass mail rates in Portland, Me 04101 (issn: 10731857). opinions expressed in articles are those of authors and do not represent editorial positions of Portland Magazine.letters to the editor are welcome and will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to Portland Magazine’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially. responsible only for that portion of any advertisement which is printed incorrectly. advertisers are responsible for copyrights of materials they submit. nothing in this issue may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publishers. submissions welcome, but we take no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Portland Magazine is published 10 times annually by sargent Publishing, inc., 722 congress street, Portland, Maine, 04102, with newsstand cover dates of Winterguide, February/March, april, May, summerguide, July/august, september, october, november, and december. Portland Magazine is the winner of NewsStand Resource’s Maggie Zine cover contests for four consecutive years; Portland Magazine is the winner of thirteen Graphic Design USA’s 2008 and 2007 american graphic design awards for excellence in Publication design.

Sargent

Publishing, inc.