Poetry Event at Thorncrag

This autumn, when the hardwoods are ablaze in color and the air is crisp, there will be an added incentive to visit Thorncrag on Sunday, October 10. At 3 p.m. Stanton will sponsor "Poetry at Gordon's Ledge," a 45-minute program of poetry and music in celebration of the Sanctuary. Four accomplished regional artists - three poets and a performer of traditional music - will share their work. The occasion, free and open to all, rekindles an old Stanton tradition. In the early decades of the last century, members of the Club climbed to the highest elevation, then an open field, and read their own poetry. Sometimes this even happened on New Year's Day.

Save the Date: Sunday, October 10. 3 p.m.
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Gordon's Ledge is a 15-minute, half-mile walk up the slope of Thorncrag, beginning at the parking lot off of Montello Street. There are very few seats and no restrooms. Participants may want to carry up very light chairs or heavy cushions for sitting on the ground. Cider will be served. There is no rain date.

Poets reading are Robert Farnsworth, Susann Pelletier, and Jonathan Skinner. The Uilleann piper is Anthony Shostak. Farnsworth, recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in poetry as well as other prizes, has published throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. His work has appeared in the most prestigious poetry journals. Susann Pelletier, a Lewston native, gives voice to both her own life in Franco-America and to her abiding concern for non-violent social change. When not writing poems, she works with the Maine People's Alliance and with sustaining local food projects.

Jonathan Skinner founded and edits the journal ecopoetics, which focuses on connections between writing and ecology. He has a forthcoming collection on "walks in a postindustrial urban wilderness," and has just finished a new book of poems on warblers. Anthony Shostak has played traditional music for 20 years, using banjo and uilleann pipes. He is a founding member of the local contradance bands "Wake the Neighbors" and "Bustopher Jones." His playing is released on three CDs. The Irish uilleann pipes he plays are a more melodic concert instrument than the famous highland bagpipes of Scotland.