Hard to believe it was five years ago that the Literary Group of the Sandwich Arts Alliance published its first book -- now one of four! We put together Pebbles in the Stream as a response to the COVID pandemic; we writers would create a personalized poem for Mother's Day/a birthday/ sick friend, whatever anyone wanted, in exchange for a donation to the hard-hit Sandwich food pantry, as described in my earlier posts. Carolyn LeComte, Jana Dillon Hamby, Heather Pannell, and Christina Nordstrom worked tirelessly to put out a gorgeous volume of original poems accompanied by original artwork by Arts Alliance painters and photographers.
And now, half a decade later ... this Saturday, March 15, I'll be reading the first poem written for that 2020 Poemathon in our new location at the historic Sandwich Town Hall. From 2-3:30 members of the SAA Literary Group will be reading for the "Grist Mill Coffee House" from all four books we've put together, including the recent WHERE'S SANDWICH?, edited (brilliantly) by Donna and John Harrison.
For me it will be special. I plan to read "For Max," the poem commissioned by Todd Hermann for his son. The boy I wrote it for was about to graduate from high school and now he is in his early 20s. He has walked through that door I wrote about and into his future. Since then, I too, like Max, have walked into my future in these five years. I've worked with the supremely talented Plymouth artist Michael Berndt and the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History to publish The Last Heath Hen, my children's book for teachers and parents to use to discuss wildlife extinctions (available on my website, local bookstores, Ingram Spark or Amazon) and have been giving presentations on the Heath Hen story at Bowdoin College, Martha's Vineyard Museum, and numerous other organizations.
If you'd like to hear "For Max" (and maybe my great fav "Mary McCorkle and Mrs. O'Shea" in honor of St. Patrick's Day??) and many selections by other SAA writers, please join us at Town Hall at the Grist Mill Coffee House this Saturday from 2-3:30 for readings and great refreshments!
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