Celebrating the Dead Bards of the Dirigo State

Night, By Lousie Bogan

Robert Farnsworth reads Night, by Louise Bogan, at the 1st stop on the Dead Poets Grand Tour 2010.

From Macbeth, Act 5 : Read by Ken Nye

Oct 7th Reading at Most Beautiful Places in Maine

You don't want to miss the October 7th unique event "Remembering Maine's Dead Poets"

We'll be reading poetry together at 5 community events at some of the MOST BEAUTIFUL locations in Maine. 

HARPSWELL: 6:15...NOBLEBORO: 9:15... CAMDEN:10:45....CASTINE:1:15...

BLUE HILL:2:50...MT. CADILLAC: 5:30 (There are rain locations for each event)

Historic "Remembering Maine's Island Poets" Announced

On Thursday, October 7th, a day-long, 5-stop "Remembering Maine's Island Poets" series of community readings will take place up the coast of Maine, starting at sunrise in Harpswell and ending at sunset at Cadillac Mountain.

Visit our new blog for the event and check out the map of the route and the schedule of the 5 community readings that will highlight the lives and work of 36 Maine poets.

Participants are welcome to sign up to read a work from one of their favorite past poets of Maine poets by e-mailing maine (@) deadpoes {dot} org. Blog readers can make comments with suggestions for poems to be read that day (they all will have something to do with the "Islands" ie., fishing, shipbuilding, sailing, vacationing, the coast, storms, etc.)

Ruth Moore Birthday Party on Wednesday

This Wednesday evening friends, family, and fans of poet and novelist Ruth Moore will gather at the Bass Harbor Memorial Island to celebrate her life and poetry. Moore was a long-time resident of Mt. Desert Island and was born on nearbye Gott's Island.

Obama left too early; this, and the Sardine event on Tuesday, are the Maine events of the week!

Historic Grand Tour Report Now Online

The initial report of the historic Dead Poets Grand Tour 2010 is now online.

It chronicles all the places visited and the names of the poets read. From the Report: 

"We started on Shakespeare’s birthday, in Portland, Maine, the 23^rd of April, and we ended with a bang 6,500 miles later at the first Boston Poetry Marathon, May 25th. During those 34 days, and with the cooperation of 13 current and former State Poets Laureate, we held a Dead Poets Bash in 19 different States and visited 43 cemeteries!

The Grand Tour map can be accessed at the top left corner of the Dead Poets Society of America blog:  http://deadpoets.typepad.com/dpsablog/  

The other readings and interviews we held at poets’ graves and houses were really great as well, including the Lorine Niedecker home, the Carl Sandburg home, the E.L. Masters home, the Sidney Lanier house, The Virginia Military Institute, The Poe Museum, the Longfellow House and the Woodberry Poetry Room, at Harvard.

All totaled we visited the graves of 75 American poets, and heard the amazing poetry of over 100 American poets read. Dedgar and the crew kept up a pace of just over 191.18 miles per day and 2 poets’ graves per day!

The initial report of the historic Dead Poets Grand Tour 2010 is now online.

It chronicles all the places visited and the names of the poets read. From the Report: 

"We started on Shakespeare’s birthday, in Portland, Maine, the 23^rd of April, and we ended with a bang 6,500 miles later at the first Boston Poetry Marathon, May 25th. During those 34 days, and with the cooperation of 13 current and former State Poets Laureate, we held a Dead Poets Bash in 19 different States and visited 43 cemeteries!

The Grand Tour map can be accessed at the top left corner of the Dead Poets Society of America blog:  http://deadpoets.typepad.com/dpsablog/  

The other readings and interviews we held at poets’ graves and houses were really great as well, including the Lorine Niedecker home, the Carl Sandburg home, the E.L. Masters home, the Sidney Lanier house, The Virginia Military Institute, The Poe Museum, the Longfellow House and the Woodberry Poetry Room, at Harvard.

All totaled we visited the graves of 75 American poets, and heard the amazing poetry of over 100 American poets read. Dedgar and the crew kept up a pace of just over 191.18 miles per day and 2 poets’ graves per day!

Eastern Cemetery Sign-Up : April 23rd 12:30 PM

You are invited to join Maine poet laureate, Betsy Sholl, and Portland laureate, Stephen Luttrell, along with Maine poets Robert Farnsworth, Martin Steingesser, Megan Grumbling, Ken Nye, Deena Weinstein, and Joyce Pye at the 3rd Maine Dead Poets Bash, this coming Friday, April 23rd, at Portland's Eastern Cemetery.

Besides the invited poets, if you want to read a poem you are welcome to, but there are 2 rules: 1). It must be one poem from one of Maine's past poets; and 2) You need to respond in a comment to this posting and put the name of the poet/poem you want to read. This will help us avoid duplication.

Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Phillip Both, Robert Lowell, Louise Bogan, Robert Creeley, Elizabeth Bishop, and David Walker are already being read. 

The Map of Maine's Dead Poets has over 40 more poets to choose from.

In case of rain or snow we'll meet across the street at the North Star Cafe.

Dead Poets Grand Tour To Start From Portland!

On April 23rd the Dead Poets Grand Tour 2010 will kick-off a 34-day, 21-state trip from Portland, Maine. Once again, Maine leads the nation!

Along the way 13 State Poets Laureate will be meeting the Tour and holding public readings, where we'll announce some very exciting news about a new national literary holiday.

Come join Maine laureate, Betsy Sholl, Portland laureate, Steve Luttrell, Martin Steingesser, Ken Nye, Megan Grumbling, and other poets as they read from Maine's past poets. The meeting place is going to be Eastern Cemetery, at 12:30 PM, with a rain location just across the street at the North Star Cafe.

You can see the interactive map of the route with the dates of the stops in all 22 States.

If you have the time, please support the North Star Cafe by having lunch or a snack after the reading. :)