The BuzzThird Annual Edna St. Vincent Millay Issue

Issue 127, 30 August 2019, Rockland, Maine

On cable channel 1301,MaineCoast.tv, & Roku.

The Old SchoolInc. 2012

Born in a double house on Broadway here in Rockland, Edna St.Vincent Millay went on to become one of the lodestars in thefirmament of American poetry. She is known for her poetryconcerning affairs of the heart as well as her cynosure of death& the impermanence of all living things.But, wait, there’s more. She is also a keen observer of thehuman condition & a mordant critic of the powerful. So, as welook forward to celebrating her achievements next weekend, let’stake a quick peek at the verdant garden of her sonnets.

Tranquility at length when autumn comes,Will lie upon the spirit like that haze

Touching far islands on fine autumn daysfrom Huntsman What Quarry

Sweets sounds, Oh, beautiful music, do not cease!Reject me not into the world again.

With you alone is excellence and peace,…This moment is the best the world can give:

The tranquil blossom on the tortured stem.from Buck In the Snow

Still will I harvest beauty where it grows:In coloured fungus and the spotted fog

Surprised on foods forgotten; in ditch and bogFilmed brilliant with irregular rainbowsOf rust and oil, where half a city throws

Its empty tinsfrom Ballad of the Harp­Weaver

She had forgotten how the August nightWas level as a lake beneath the moon,In which she swam a little, losing sight

Of shore; and how the boy, who was at noonSimple enough, not different from the rest,Wore now a pleasant mystery as he went,

Which seemed to her an honest enough testWhether she loved him, and she was content.So loud, so loud the million crickets’ choir. . .

So sweet the night, so long­drawn­out and late. . .And if the man were not her spirit’s mate,Why was her body sluggish with desire?Stark on the open field the moonlight fell,

But the oak tree’s shadow was deep and black andsecret as a well.

from Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree

And finally here’s one that, perhaps, illuminates our currentsituation:

Read history: so learn your place in TimeAnd go to sleep: all this was done before;

We do it better, fouling every shore;We disinfect, we do not probe, the crime.

Our engines plunge into the seas, they climbAbove our atmosphere: We grow not moreProfound as we approach the oceans floor;

Our flight is lofty, it is not sublime.Yet long ago this Earth by struggling men

Was scuffed, was scraped by mouths that bubbled mud;And will be so again, and yet again;Until we trace our poison to it's bud

from Mine the Harvest

All these & many more are from Edna’s Collected Sonnets,originally selected by the author & first published in 1941. Alater edition, edited by her sister Norma and containingmaterial Edna was working on at her death, was published in1988 by Harper & Row, New York, New York.

We Need A Little Ednaby C.O.H. Gifford, Jr.

99.3 inCamden/Rockport

wrfr.org

Photos © David Long

The Buzz, page 2

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Around Town is compiled each week by C.O.H.Gifford, Jr.Please submit calendar items to gowrfr@gmail.comOur thanks to The Free Press for sharing its calendar.

Buzz Events 30 August – 7 September 2019Farmers’ Markets: Camden Saturday Market: 9 a.m. to noon at TanneryPark… Rockland Thursday Market: 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Harbor Park…Union Friday Market: 3­6 p.m. on Union Common. The August 30 musicalentertainment will be by Scot Cannon. … Waldoboro Saturday Market: 10a.m. to 1 p.m. at the town office.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30:• Camden Windjammer Festival, two days packed with family fun, food andfireworks. The Windjammers sail into Camden Harbor noon to 5 p.m. Fridayand invite people to climb aboard for a look­see from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday. atCamdenSnowBowl.com/CWF.• Kimberly Townsend at Rock City Cafe, 316 Main Street, Rockland, The NewYork City singer­songwriter plays a blend of folk, soul and indie at 7 p.m. Herdebut album, “The History and the Heart of It,” was released earlier this year.• “Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey,” 7 p.m., Friday Night Film Series atThomaston Public Library. A weirder­than­fiction documentary about LeonTheremin and his invention, an electronic synthesizer that gave an eerieflavor to movie soundtracks of the 1900s, and Theremin’s abduction by theKGB, who forced him to develop spy tech.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 31:• Camden Windjammer Festival 5K, at Camden Public Landing, is open torunners, walkers, skippers, rope jumpers and anyone else who wants todash, or perambulate, across the finish line. Registration starts at 7:30 a.m. atthe Harbor Master’s office. The race is free to enter and is hosted by CamdenFire Department’s nonprofit arm, Atlantic Engine No. 2.• All That Jazz at Saint George River Cafe, Warren village, 6 to 8 p.m. Jazzstandards from the Great American Songbook, classic country, R&B, rock andLatin by Bill Hahn, Renny Stackpole, Susan Davenport and Hank Lunn.• David Foley at Rock City Cafe, 316 Main Street, Rockland, at 7 p.m. Heplays Americana and folk, with a little help from his friends Will Brown andMia Mantello.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1:• 18th Annual Camden Foreign Car Show, at noon on Chestnut Street, duringthe Camden Windjammer Festival. Curvy early British and European cars andsaloons and this year, for the first time, sleek post­1990 models. Drivers canlearn how to enter at Mid Maine Sports Car Club’s website: mmscc.com.• Sunday Jams in Rockland, Sail, Power, & Steam Museum, 75 MechanicStreet, 1:30 p.m.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2:• Free Adult Art Classes at Rockland Public Library, 11 a.m. Catinka Knothleads the free Monday classes – with a focus on drawing in color – open toall, with all materials provided. August themes include sailboats andlighthouses• Monday Jams at St. George Grange, at Wiley’s Corner, 7 to 9 p.m. throughOctober. Country, gospel, folk, bluegrass.

.TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3:• Free Children’s Drawing Classes at Rockland Public Library, 4 to 5 p.m.Tuesday. Catinka Knoth leads the Let’s Draw Together! series for kids 6­plus(under 11 with an adult – adults invited to join in). All materials provided. Thismonth: “Let’s Draw August Memories!”• Two Shamans at Rockland Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Learn about the ancienttradition of shamanism – in which practitioners say they reach altered statesof consciousness to contact the spirit world – from Chris and Susan Marshall.He’s a retired anthropology professor, she’s a registered art therapist, andthey’ve been studying and teaching shamanism for 25 years.•Tuesday Jams in Thomaston, Federated Church, 8 Hyler Street, at 7 p.m.Folk, country, blues, gospel. FMI: 273­2914.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4:• Meet the Migrating Monarch, 7 p.m. at Lincolnville Community Library.Maine Master Naturlist Cyrene Slegona shares observations from her visits tomonarch butterflies’ overwintering sites in Mexico and tells how to make theirtrip from Maine easier by planting milkweed and migration­friendly gardens.She’ll outline current and proposed research on the long­distance flyers.• Talk on America’s Early Currency, 7 p.m. at the Old Town House, 128 TownHouse Road in Union. Brad Hennemuth tells how the colonies of the NewWorld had to beg, borrow, steal and print money to bankroll their war for

independence from Britain. He explains how it was done and introducesthe characters who accomplished it, in the Union Historical Societyprogram.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5:• Baby Time at Rockland Public Library, 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. Thursdays fornewborns to 2­year­olds, with older siblings welcome. Miss Katie willguide fun with rhymes, finger plays and stories.• “Simple Books: Fold & Stitch” at Rockland Public Library, 6:30 p.m.Cynthia McGuirl teaches the versatile pamphlet binding stitch. Studentswill leave with a six­page booklet and printed instructions. Open to adultsand teens. Registration is required at the library or by calling 594­0310.•Thursday Jams in Warren, Saint George River Cafe, 310 Main Street, 6p.m. and Friday Open Mics, second and fourth Fridays, at 6:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6:• The Art Loft, 385 Main Street, Rockland will display the works of its tworesident artists for September, Katharina Gifford and Naomi Howe, 5 to 8p.m.• Millay Arts & Poetry Festival with Pop­Up Poets on Friday, from 5 to 8p.m. during the First Friday Art Walk, with a reading of her poems on theroof of Harbor Square Gallery.• Rockland First Friday Art Walk, September 6, from 5 to 8 p.m.Farnsworth Art Museum and Center for Maine Contemporary Art offer freeadmission, and two dozen galleries open their doors and offer new art,refreshments, music and more. Get a map at ArtsInRockland.org..SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7:

Millay Arts & Poetry Festival continues:• Children’s poetry workshop at the Farnsworth Art Museum at 10 a.m.• A screening of “Burning Candles: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay” atBartlett Woods Retirement Community at 10:30 a.m.•Wesley McNair, a Maine poet laureate, will speak and read poems at theFarnsworth from 2 to 4 p.m. and “Three Songs for Voice and Piano” byMillay and Efrem Zimbalist will be performed by pianist Sojourner Crowleyand soprano Erin Chenard.• Poetry slam at Fog Bar & Cafe, 328 Main Street, from 6:30 to 9 p.m.,with an open mic for poets before and after the slam – you can sign up atMillayHouseRockland.org.•Edna's Birthplace at 198/200 Broadway in Rockland will be openfor tours from 4­6 p.m.• Kites & Ice Cream for Kids at Beech Hill Preserve, in Rockport, from 1 to4 p.m. Each child who registers gets a free kite and a coupon for an icecream (which will be on sale for grownups and for kids who don’tregister): info@CoastalMountains.org.