Saturday, we got up early, to find the pond in Provincetown the poet Mary Oliver calls “Blackwater Pond,” although it’s actual name, according to the Park Rangers, is Beech Forest Pond. It is tricky to find.
 It is eerie and beautiful, and the trip was a pilgrimage, accompanied by heat, shadows and mosquitoes. Oliver lives in Provincetown and often writes about the ponds and forests.

 
“At Blackwater Pond”

“At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled
after a night of rain.
I dip my cupped hands. I drink
a long time. It tastes
like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold
into my body, waking the bones. I hear them
deep inside me, whispering
oh what is that beautiful thing
that just happened.”

 — Mary Oliver