|
|
| Poetry at Kelly Lombardi's Roque Bluffs home |
Meet The Salt Coast Sages They show
up at poetry readings in black-T shirts bearing, on the front, the words The Salt Coast Sages and on the back,
Catch Us Before We’re Gone. Both inscriptions express the fact that in age they are all past fifty. But in
spirit they practice the craft of poetry—and they think it is a craft—with all the enthusiasm of the young. They
named themselves Sages just for fun; they are too smart to pretend to wisdom. They first
came together in a poetry class in the Sunrise Senior College, an education program for learners over fifty at the University
of Maine at Machias, the small-town seat of rural Washington County. As the teacher of the class, M. Kelly Lombardi became
their mentor, their mother hen, and their task master In between semesters, she kept them together with sessions in her seaside
cottage, where they soon discovered that cooking was another of her fine arts. All the Sages have published poetry in literary
journals and other periodicals. But each is tenaciously different in style, background, and personality.
|
|
|
| Salt Coast Sages at WERU radio station 2007 |
Kelly Lombardi, a writer and critic as well as a teacher, had reinforced her Irish
ancestral and Italian spiritual heritages with annual pilgrimages to Irish pubs and an Italian monastery. When not abroad,
she had written sensuously descriptive poetry in her home at Roque Bluffs. Alas, we lost Kelly to cancer in September 2008.
Sharon Bray, a freelance journalist living in Orland, is former editor/owner of the Narramissic
Notebook, a journal of poems, pictures, and historical stories. In her poetry she affectionately observes goings-on in
her Maine surroundings. Sharon has stayed on at Narramissic Notebook as poetry editor.
Donald Crane, living between Milbridge and Harrington, has been both a farmer and a public-relations man. In subtle word-portraits
of Down East people, he heeds a muse who wears muddy boots and slings hash in local cafés.
Gerald George, a writer, editor, and former administrator, left Washington, D.C. for a home between a woods
and a cove in East Machias. He can be serious only so long before his pen has to poke a little fun.
Philip Rose, a sea captain who delivers yachts for boat companies, lives in Starboard on Rose Ledge overlooking
Machias Bay. For many years an English teacher, he particularly likes to spin story poems in a Down East dialect.
Grace Sheridan, once a federal civil servant, loves the seascape near her home in the fishing village of Cutler.
She turns her memories as well as everyday scenes into emotionally poignant poems.
PUBLIC READINGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 11, 2009
Saturday
5th Annual BOOKS AND BLOOMS FESTIVAL
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Friday, July
24, 2009
COMPASS ROSE BOOKSTORE
Castine, Maine
1:00 p.m
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
ALSO
Friday, July 24, 2009
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
BOOKSTACKS
Bucksport, Maine
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Saturday, August 8, 2009
7:00 p.m.
LUBEC
MEMORIAL LIBRARY
55 Water Street
Lubec, Maine 04652
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Look for us on Saturday,
August 15 at the
MACHIAS
BLUEBERRY FESTIVAL
11:00 - Noon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 27, 2009
Thursday
Ellsworth
Public Library Ellsworth. Maine
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 15, 2009
Saturday
10:00 a.m.
Washington County Retired Teachers Association
at
Bluebird Ranch Restaurant
Machias, Maine
Order Now
"A Rump-Sprung Chair
and A One-Eyed Cat"
Poems by Down East Maine's
Salt Coast Sages
Edited by the late M. Kelly Lombardi
Cover Illustration by Mary E. Weston
This book contains
some of the best work of the Sages.
But they are far from finished!
$10.00 + $3.00 Shippiing & Handling
Send
check or money order
and your mailing address
with
$13.00 per book
to
Salt Coast Sages
P.O. Box 263
Cutler, ME 04626
Make
checks payable to Salt Coast Sages
Confirmation will be sent to your e mail address if provided.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ORDER
|
