Due to the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, things are a bit different this year. With statewide and national closures of schools, arts organizations, businesses and public places, and warnings to be mindful of social distancing, we have made the prudent decision to cancel all PoemTown events for this year.
However, like the geese and robins, poetry will return to Randolph! The original poems of 76 poets from 46 Vermont towns are on display in the main windows and doors of local businesses and organizations as a walking anthology for residents and visitors to enjoy as they walk through town, hike a short nature trail along the White River, or do errands in town. New this year is the pairing of some of Randolph’s notable outdoor sculptures with poetry that was submitted. Poets were encouraged to submit poems that consider our climate emergency.
We hope that these poems help offset the difficulty of these uncertain times and remind us of the many ways we are connected through common experience. The daily pressures and hectic pace of our lives, and the onslaught of technology all threaten to isolate and overwhelm us. Poetry is a vehicle for articulating our common human experience and the many threads that bind us together as human beings. Who among us has not been shaken by love and loss, has not been moved by beauty in the natural world, yearned for change, or been challenged by a situation beyond his or her control? Through poetry we celebrate our unity through our individual stories and insight. May the days ahead be filled with poetry to sustain us all.
Thank you to our supporters!
We’re grateful for generous sponsorship support that makes possible our ability to print the poems and programs and design and print this year’s anthology.
PoemTown 2020 is underwritten by the the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation and has additional support from DuBois & King, EyeCare for You, Northfield Savings Bank, Sanel/NAPA Auto Parts, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, andthe Ada Brandon Foundation. PoemTown is grateful for partnerships with the Town of Randolph, RACDC, Chandler Center for the Arts, Kimball Library, and the White River Craft Center that helped make possible the planning of this year’s events.
We’re grateful for generous sponsorship support that makes possible our ability to offer the poetry portions of all events at no cost to the public.
PoemTown 2020 is underwritten by the the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation and has additional support from DuBois & King, EyeCare for You, Northfield Savings Bank, Sanel/NAPA Auto Parts, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, and the Ada Brandon Foundation. PoemTown is grateful for partnerships with the Town of Randolph, RACDC, Chandler Center for the Arts, Kimball Library, and the White River Craft Center that help make possible these events.
Find the Poems
More than 100 poems are placed throughout Randolph Village. Here’s a complete listing of their locations. This year many of Randolph’s sculptures are included in the Poetry Walk.
Sculptures
“The Gift” by Karen Petersen in front of Chandler Music Hall
Gathering — Louis Megyesi
Paul Calter sculptures at Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center
“Focus One” — from Simultaneous — Jim Schley
“Armillary VII” — Ode to the Tree Across the Road — Genevieve Bronk
“Sun Disc, Moon Disc” — Sun, O Glorious Sun — Neill Callahan
“Big Frog, Small Pond” by Jim Sardonis, VT Agricultural and Environmental Lab at VTC
Charles’s Pond — Louis Megyesi
“Whale Dance” by Jim Sardonis at Exit 4, I-89
Eternal Dance — Peggy Brightman
River Walk
Still Leaf — Jonathan Root
Winter — Michael Fitzgerald
Source: Haiku — M. Underwood
Milkweed — James Crews
Questions — Ann Cooper
Waiting on the Ice Jam — Daniel Chadwick
Metamorphose — Deb Delmore
Ladybugs — George Longenecker
Randolph Village Laundromat – 75 North Main Street
Flowerless — Ann Brandon
The Church of Laundromat — Stephen Morris
Chandler Music Hall – 71-73 North Main Street
Ukulele Lesson — Judith Crocker
No Oxygen Left — Trish Alley
Bach Hears Music — Gus Speth
Kimball Public Library – 67 North Main Street
The Writer in His Element — Gus Speth
Logophile — Judith Crocker
Randolph House – 65 North Main Street
The Moon Dances Down Pug Lake — Sydney Lea
Anticipation — M. Underwood
Super Suds Laundromat – 10 Pleasant Street
Colored Glass — Steve Augustus
Act as if …. — Phoenix
Seeds of Despair — Carl Garguilo
The Gear House — 16 Pleasant Street
Afterlife — Jack Mayer
Huggable Mug Café – 22 Pleasant Street
Carbon Footprint Cafe — Donna Bramley
Feeding Time — Timothy Eberhardt
Kids Play — 22 Pleasant Street
Little Zephyrs — Deb Franzoni
about a boy — Nancy Hewitt
Trillium — 24 Pleasant Street
Mother’s Day — Wilma Ann Johnson
What the Birder Said — Veer Frost
The Herald – 30 Pleasant Street
Poetry in an Eggshell — Audrey Boerum
The Lost Poem — Jeff Bernstein
Ode to Ocean — Cynthia Liepmann
Red Lion Inn — 9 Pleasant Street
At 89 — Audrey Boerum
Morning at the Drop-in Center — Barbara Stearns
Red Door Jewelers — 20 Merchants Row
Love and Imagination — Kimberly Madura
Soft Light Appearing — Janet Burnham
Fisher Auto Parts – 10 Merchants Row
The Wind from the Next World — Gina Logan
Car Wash — Annie Bower
Cassandra — Ann Cooper
Pollination — Geza Tatrallyay
After the Flood — Rebecca Starks
Willamina Willy — Tom Martin
Ice — Veer Frost
Ode to ‘e’— Barney Beard
One Blood Paragraph — Nancy Hewitt
Self-Medication — Sandy Edmunds
a broken heart has no home — Mary Collins
Earth Mother — Peggy Brightman
The Singin’ Rage — Sydney Lea
Vermont Computing – 23 Merchants Row
Dead End — Julie Cadwallader Staub
Bluer Seas — Annie Bower
The Black Krim Tavern – 21 Merchants Row
Our Notions of Love — Christina Strong
Sidewalk Florist – 19 Merchants Row
Dahlias — Andrea Rogers
The Peony Admiration Club — Letitia Rydjeski
One Main Tap & Grill – 2 Merchants Row
August 27, 2019 — Julie Cadwallader Staub
Boppin’ at Lunacy — Pam Ahlen
There and Here — Judith Crocker
Belmain’s Building — 15 North Main Street
The Open Field — James Crews
False Labor — Jack Mayer
Clouds — Ina Anderson
Bee-ing Indoors — Gina Logan
Twenty Years — Charleigh Robillard
November 8, 2017 — Ann Cooper
Scorched Earth — Janet Watton
Nativity Scene — Peggy Whiteneck
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust – 21 North Main Street
Out of Control — Janet Watton
So You Think — Michael J. Farrand
Saecula saeculorum — Timothy Eberhardt
First Chill — Deb Delmore
To My Great Granddaughter Not Yet Born — Ina Anderson
On Seeing Satellite Images After Hurricane Dorian — Rebecca Starks
From Stone Road — George Murphy
Ken’s Barbershop – 33 North Main Street
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, 2005 — Jamie Gage
The Frankenburg Agency – 35 North Main Street
Orbweaver — James Crews
Bethany Church Office – 32 North Main Street
The Book of Job — Peggy Whiteneck
Migration — Wilma Ann Johnson
Noah and the Climate Skeptics — Brigitte Lent
DuBois & King – 28 North Main Street
Teach Me To Whisper — Deb Chadwick
I’m gonna write my dream — David Wrong
Lamentation — Rebecca McMeekin
Rain Change — James Wyman
Blue Moon – 6 North Main Street
There are Words in this Wind — Julie Longstreth
Assumptions and Cullings — Sydney Lea
Northfield Savings Bank – 2 North Main Street
Giant Sequoia — Rebecca McMeekin
Boogaloo to Beck — Jamie Gage
A Tiny Patch of Blue — Trish Alley
The Olde Hollows Transfer Station — Steve Augustus
November — Anne Bakeman
Coffin — Danny Dover
East Garden – 3 Salisbury Street
Bahn Mi in Vermont — Christina Strong
Wilson Tire – 5 Salisbury Street
Poem for the Leavers — Jillian Getman
Randolph Municipal Building – 7 Summer Street
Town Meeting — Rebecca McMeekin
America. America — Audrey Boerum
Tranquility — Mickie Richardson
Of Revolution — David Celone
Randolph Coal & Oil – 8 Salisbury Street
There are too many of us on this earth … — Geza Tatrallyay
The New Normal — Charlie Farrell
Randolph Police Station – 6 Salisbury Street
Airborne — Corinne Davis
Bob’s M&M Beverage – 4 Salisbury Street
Polar Cap — Melanie Adams
Chef’s Market — 2 Salisbury Street
Should — Deb Delmore
Until, that is, I Become Vinegar — Stephen Morris
Stagecoach – Depot Square
Thomas Edison Lands in the 21st Century — Jeff Bernstein
True Center Yoga — 2 South Main Street
A Place Beyond — Gus Speth
TEKHENU — Janet Watton
lotus — Mary Collins
The Split Is Clear — Cynthia Liepmann
Sanel / NAPA – 3 South Main Street
Willing — Nancy Hewitt
No Restraint — Deb Franzoni
after reading how the wollemi pines were saved by firefighters in Australia — Anne Bergeron
Climate Changes, Writ Small — Jeff Bernstein
World Atlas — Christina Strong
Heritage Real Estate — 10 South Main Street
Indecision Equals Inaction — Sandy Edmonds
The Playhouse – 11 South Main Street
The Souks of Aleppo — Brigitte Lent
To The Horse’s Return — Steven Yaskell
Beacon Printing – 18 South Main Street
Three of Us — Peter Dregallo
Any flip of the hand …. — Annie Bower
Al’s Pizza – 12 South Main Street
The Universe is — Peggy Brightman
Heron Dancer — Karen Richardson
Hummingbird — Hatsy McGraw
It was Hidden in the Statue — Daniel Chadwick
Randolph Regional Veterinary Hospital – 86 Dylan Drive
Flagler, our Weatherman — Bonnie Watters
Ode to Leofred L’Orange — Ina Anderson
My Indoor Cat — Jack MayerBuckie — Lynn Powers