New Maine poet laureate sought
AUGUSTA The Maine Arts Commission has launched its search for a new state poet laureate to succeed Deer Isle poet Stuart Kestenbaum for a five-year term. Applicants are sought for the position to promote poetry throughout the state while honoring a Maine poet whose work can inspire an understanding and appreciation of the craft of poetry for Maine people.
During his tenure from 2016 to 2021, Kestenbaum used his position to share poetry in many different mediums, including his “Poems from Here” collaboration with Maine Public, which features a new Maine poem each week. He is the author of five collections of poems, most recently “How to Start Over” (Deerbrook Editions, 2019). He also authored the essay collection “The View from Here” (Brynmorgen Press, 2012).
OFF RADAR: ‘things seemed to be breaking: visual poems’
A new book by former poet laureate Stuart Kestenbaum
By Dana Wilde
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“things seemed to be breaking: visual poems” by Stuart Kestenbaum; Deerbrook Editions, Cumberland, Maine, 2021; 136 pages, paperback, $18.50.
“Found poetry” is a peculiarly modern phenomenon. It’s made when words, phrases and sometimes entire passages from texts such as newspaper articles, advertising copy, government documents or anything else are selected out and re-arranged as poetry. Or whatever.
It’s been around since about the time Marcel Duchamp submitted a urinal for an art exhibit in New York City in 1917. “The Fountain,” as he called it, was the first celebrated piece of found art. Dadaist and Surrealist writers did similar things with words through the 1920s, ’30, ’40s. By the 1950s the Beat poets, under the influence of William S. Burroughs’ determined efforts to expose the vacancies in common sense, made “cu
Poet Stuart Kestenbaum, pictured with Governor Mills in January 2020. Courtesy of Stuart Kestenbaum.
The Maine Arts Commission requests applications to select a new state poet laureate for a five-year term. Maine’s Poet Laureate position is an appointment designed to promote poetry throughout the state while honoring a Maine poet whose work can inspire an understanding and appreciation of the craft of poetry for the people of our state.
Current Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum completes his five-year term in 2021. Kestenbaum, a resident of Deer Isle, has used his position to share poetry in many different mediums, including his “Poems from Here” collaboration with Maine Public, which features a new Maine poem each week. Kestenbaum is the author of five collections of poems, most recently “How to Start Over” (Deerbrook Editions, 2019). He is also the author of the essay collection “The View from Here” (Brynmorgen Press, 2012).
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Poetry alive and well in Maine
By Linda Buckmaster | Apr 22, 2021
“I think poetry is alive and well in Maine!” said Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum. “There are so many new books being published, great readings, and exciting initiatives with young people writing poetry.” Stuart’s poem “Breaking Free” is our feature this week.
He continued: “In challenging times of the pandemic, social upheaval and environmental crises, people turn to poetry to understand deeper meanings, or to give voice to their feelings. We re constantly listening to news about these issues, but poetry is helping us listen in a different, deeper way.”