Audio of My Favorite Poem.

 Here is the audio version of My Favorite Poem Readings.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vZvrIYs5WQna8xy7GfbzTL-rajUV16RL/view

Poetry Success

Horace Mann Middle School Principal, Rebecca Motte

Guilt trips, twisting arms, calling in "I owe you's", advertising or whatever, worked.  My Favorite Poetry Project was a huge success.  All my readers showed up and were wonderful.  Better--the audience was overflowing.  I, as moderator, was facing the audience and I couldn't get over the attention the people had, even the sixth-grade students.

Afterwards, I was in the library to just kill time until the time for my "writers' group, the Senior Scribblers, and I could hear people in the hall discussing the event.  Praises were sung!  Everyone loved it.  The favorite seemed to be the sixth graders reciting Maya Angelou's Caged Bird.  And no wonder they were a hit.  They recited, not read their poem.  It didn't hurt that they were cute, either. Two teachers were there and they recited, too. Everyone else read theirs.  All were excellent.

The last person to read was Principal Rebecca Motte from the aforementioned school of sixth graders.  Her poem was I Am by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

I know not whence I came, 
I know not whither I go; 
But the fact stands clear that I am here
In this world of pleasure and woe.
And out of the mist and the murk
Another truth shines plain –
It is my power each day and hour
To add to its joy or its pain.

Apropos, is it not?  More than her poem being a concluding statement, it was her introduction that remains with me.  She pointed out how interconnected this community of Franklin, MA is.  Here at the Senior Center, we had representatives from the Middle School, the High School, Dean College, Municipal Government and the local citizenry.  All the entities have frequently invited each other for other events.  Last Monday, for example, the Senior Center was invited to participate in a sociology class at Dean College.  Seniors have also taken courses at the college.  Middle School students come to help us seniors with technology needs.  There is so much more.  This is what community is and I am so blessed to have been a part of it today.

My Big Fat Poetry Reading

Franklin, MA Senior Center

FIVE MORE DAYS!  In five more days, on October 25, 2017, My Favorite Poem Project will happen.  Here's the line-up of readers.  The order is alphabetical according to the poet.

A Brave and Startling Truth by Maya Angelou, read by Dr. Dawn Poirier, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Dean College

Caged Bird by Maya Angelou, read by students in Horace Mann’s sixth grade

The Lanyard by Billy Collins, read by Franklin Library Director, Dr. Felicia Oti

Poem 341 Hope Is A Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson, read by Horance Mann teacher, Noreen Langmeyer

The Calf Path by Sam Foss, read by our Town Administrator, Jeff Nutting

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, read by Franklin Cable TV, Ken Norman
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, read by Jeffrey Roy our State Representative  

Democracy by Langston Hughes, read by Horace Mann teacher, Joe Corey  
Go Down Death, by James Weldon Johnson, read by Senior Scribbler, Clarice Cargill

Untitled—by Barbara Karmelin, read by Senior Scribbler, Barbara Karmelin

If, by Rudyard Kipling, read by Jean Burke of the Norfolk Quill Writers’ Group

Mother Earth’s Hair by Charmagne Laprise, read by Senior Scribbler, Charmagne Laprise

If Only We Were Taller by Ray Bradbury, read by the Editor for the Country Gazette and Wicked Local Franklin, Heather Swails-McCarron

Mr. Macklin’s Jack O’Lantern  by David McCord, read by Faith Flaherty

Sleeping in the Forest by Mary Oliver, read by Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Sara Ahern

The Story of the Christmas Guest by Helen Steiner Rice, read by the President of Franklin Interfaith Council, Georgia Sander

Sick by Shel Silverstein, read by Franklin High School Principal, Paul Peri

I Am by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, read by Horace Mann Principal, Rebecca Motte

That is essentially the program.  On the back of the program is this quote.  Jeffrey Roy, my state representative suggested the idea. 

Less than a month before his assignation, on October 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was giving a speech at the ground breaking ceremony for the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College.   His speech didn’t deal with foreign or domestic policy or any politics, at all.  Instead, it recognized the vital role the poet plays in a free society.  It is well worth your quiet reflection. 

…Our national strength matters, but the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters just as much. This was the special significance of Robert Frost. He brought an unsparing instinct for reality to bear on the platitudes and pieties of society. His sense of the human tragedy fortified him against self-deception and easy consolation. "I have been," he wrote, "one acquainted with the night." And because he knew the midnight as well as the high noon, because he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph of the human spirit, he gave his age strength with which to overcome despair. At bottom, he held a deep faith in the spirit of man, and it's hardly an accident that Robert Frost coupled poetry and power, for he saw poetry as the means of saving power from itself. When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment. The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world… in retrospect, we see how the artist's fidelity has strengthened the fiber of our national life. If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist… 

https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/exhibitions/kennedy/documents#Final  

What do you think?

Son of a Gun!

Ha!  I have to laugh.  I'm working on My Favorite Poem Project.  Today, at Franklin Senior Expo, I was talking to my State Representative, Jeffrey Roy.  He's reading at the event.  He chose a Robert Frost poem to read, The Road Not Taken.  We were talking about poetry and Robert Frost.  He was telling me about a quote he had just seen at the Kennedy Library.  He took a picture of it.  I could see that it was a draft Kennedy had written to commemorate Robert Frost, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College.

At home, I googled, "Kennedy speech at a groundbreaking ceremony for Rober Frost Library at Am..." that's as far as I got because my computer blinked.  And on
my screen was just a large microphone.

It surprised me.  Here I was writing this long sentence, "Kennedy speech at groundbreaking ceremony for Robert Frost Library at Amherst College" and now I had to write it again.  Again!

Out of my mouth came, "SON OF A GUN!" 

and instantaneously I was given Son of a Gun

www.sonofagunrestaurant.com/

Hip, nautical-themed restaurant known for its shrimp toast, lobster roll & fried chicken sandwich.

 I repeat "Son of a Gun!"

Franklin Cultural District: A Favorite Poem Project - Oct 25

Franklin Senior Center

Franklin Cultural District: A Favorite Poem Project - Oct 25: The Franklin Senior Scribblers' Writers' Group is hosting A Favorite Poem Project . It is scheduled for October 25 at 10:00 AM at the Franklin Senior Center.  I'll post more as the date approches.

Latest Update on My Favorite Poem Project

Hostesses for My Favorite Poem Project

There are now 18 readers, plus a Middle School Class reciting O Captain, My Captain!  I sent out 26 invitations and I got 20 responses.  Half of the six who didn't answer are politicians.  Politicians!  Do you believe it?  What kind of politicians don't respond to their constituents?  Why don't they just say "no."  What?  Are two choices, "yes or no" too many for you?

One is a state senator, another is a state representative, and last is the chairman of my Town Council.  Do you think I'm going to vote for them again?  Do you think anyone in my family is going to vote for them?  Do you think any of my friends are going to vote for them?

If they can't respond to an invitation, how can we trust them to respond to our needs?

Update on Poem Project

Last April I presented the My Favorite Poem Project to my writers' group, the Senior Scribblers.  They said, "Go for it!"  So I thought I'd tell you how it's progressing.

I think it's progressing very, very well.  The local newspaper is covering it.  The local cable company is covering it.  And!  They are reading their favorite poems.

I have sent out twenty six invitations.  I've got back eleven.  Six have said yes.

I've got the space secured and the time.  I'm in the process of making up flyers.

What do you think?