Craig Sipe, a Mainer now, grew up, as his poem says, in Pennsylvania. But the changing world his speaker describes with poignancy could be any of the mill towns here in Maine as they face decline and try to rebuild themselves. The poem also looks at how our relationship to our original home can both…Read More
Category: Poetry
Maine poets selected and introduced by MAJ poetry editor share works that relate to the MAJ quarterly theme.
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Poetry—Betsy Sholl, Jeffrey Thomson, Linda Aldrich
As Linda Aldrich’s poem “The Mime” shows us, inner and outer vision often complete each other. The mime allows us to see what isn’t there, but could be, and memory allows us to see again what was. The interaction of the two creates a “study of hope melting into the perfect moment,” a kiss…Read More
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Moving Stone
above: Marguerite Lawler, “Mossy”, 24″x24″, oil, 2017 Submitted by Gary Lawless Introduction by Betsy Sholl Gary Lawless has been a presence and force in Maine poetry for many years. He grew up here and runs with his wife Gulf of Maine Books. But he is also a world traveler, or I should say an…Read More
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Remembering a Poet—Through her words
by Kathy Weinberg “I was more interested in daily life, less melodramatic human interactions, poems of place, and glimpses of transcendence through ordinary things,” Karie Friedman said of her writing. Waldo County Poet, translator, editor, and founder of a poetry workshop group The Poets’ Table, Karie Friedman died of a sudden illness last week. Along with her…Read More
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Poetry Feature
In Rachel Contreni Flynn’s poems the stories exist on several levels. There is what the speaker experiences, all those complexities of mistrust, fear and tenderness, and her inner conflicts. Then there are the larger moral issues the writer raises by telling these stories. Just by putting “America” in the title, she is asking us to…Read More
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Poetry: Gibson Fay-LeBlanc
Introduction by Betsy Sholl; MAJ Poetry Editor Gibson Fay-LeBlanc is Poet Laureate of Portland. He is acting director of SPACE Gallery and was for several years director of The Telling Room. His first book of poems is Death of a Ventriloquist, winner of the Vassar Miller Prize. “Wing and a Prayer” was first published in…Read More
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Poetry: Betsy Sholl
Betsy Sholl IT WAS a squirrel flicking its tail, it was the woodpecker’s red head, a sparrow wing flaring in light, it was an angel, a message, bayberries on bare twigs, it was Love Supreme in a car stopped at the light, don’t stop me from believing it was a message, it was a moment…Read More
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Poetry: Mark Melnicove
Mark Melnicove You can hear more than the ocean You can hear more than the ocean in a seashell. You can hear the grit on the window grinding in farther. You can hear fear sweat black tar. You can hear regimented genes spit seeds at sunshine. You can hear plastic bags yearn to be liquid,…Read More
