Now that November is gone…

I thought it would be a good time to share a few of the poems that have been featured in the Poetry Box located in front of Mount Vernon’s First Presbyterian Church on Main Street. Each month I will be selecting a handful of poems to be placed in the box, roughly one per week, so that the poem can be read by all passersby.

Lori Wunder, Pastor of First Pres, saw boxes like this during a recent trip to Portland, and upon returning she asked if I’d be willing to curate one once it was built by a church member. I think it’s a wonderful way to put poems in front of the community, and I hope you make a point of walking past the box and peeking in each week!

October featured Bruce Weigl’s “My Autumn Leaves,” and, for Halloween, Carl Sandburg’s “Theme in Yellow.”

November started off with an Election Day poem, January Gill O’Neil’s “Old South Meeting House,” which was followed by Ted Hughes’ “November,” and then “An Iroquois Prayer for Thanksgiving,” finishing up the month with William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73, “That time of year thou mayst in me behold.”

As you can tell from this selection, the poems will be eclectic in an effort to appeal widely, and Lori Wunder will also slip in her favorites now and then, especially in December to highlight the season of Advent.

Please have a look soon!

-Marianne Taylor, Poet Laureate of Mount Vernon