RANGELEY — Local poet Peggy Yocom and members of poet Hugh Ogden’s family will read in honor or Ogden at 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5, the Ecopelagicon nature store, 7 Pond St.
The reading is to honor poet Hugh Ogden, formerly of Poets’ Island, who died in 2006.
The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Members of the Ogden family will begin the evening by reading poems written by Ogden.
Community members are invited to read a poem of Ogden’s or one of their own that attends to what meant so much to him — the beauty and mystery of the world, especially Rangeley, and peace among all living things. A sign-up sheet will be available at the beginning of the event, since time will be limited.
The second part of the evening will feature Rangeley and Farmington poet and folklorist Yocom, who will read from “All Kinds of Fur: Erasure Poems & New Translation of a Tale from the Brothers Grimm.” The poems are based on a controversial, little-known story. Erasing the Grimms’ words to reveal a young woman’s story of her journey to a new, full life, Yocum asks, “What would All Kinds Of Fur say if she could tell her own tale?”
Readers can learn more about the book (and erasure poetry) and flip through 16 of its pages at Deerbrook Editions’ website: deerbrookeditions.com/kin-s-fur.
Yocum has published on the Brothers Grimm, on Inuit storytelling in northwest Alaska, on family folklore, and on the folk arts of Maine logging communities, especially Rangeley. She has worked on exhibits, films, and other projects of the Maine Folklife Center, the Vermont Folklife Center, and more. Founder of the Folklore Studies Program at George Mason University where she taught for 36 years, she was presented with the American Folklore Society’s Goldstein Award for Lifetime Academic Leadership.
For more information, call 207-864-3421 (myocomATgmu.edu) or Linda Dexter at 207-864-2771, and visit ecopelagicon.com, hughogden.com and margaretyocom.com/poetry.
