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Take Heart Poetry Archive
The Maine State Library has partnered with the State's Poet Laureate, Wesley McNair, and the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance in the initiative, Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry.
Each week McNair offer one previously published poem by a Maine poet. McNair will select each poem and write a brief introduction about the poet's background and connection to Maine, and the history, context, or themes of the poem. A full archive of those weekly poems is posted below.
- December 27, 2015 - Exit
- December 20, 2015 - The Silent Seers
- December 13, 2015 - Another Full Moon
- December 6, 2015 - Night Out
- November 29, 2015 - My Mother's Funeral
- November 22, 2015 - El Cafe a la Esquina de Agua y Vida, Seville
- November 15, 2015 - Why I Have A Crush On You, UPS Man
- November 8, 2015 - The Hands
- November 1, 2015 - Home
- October 25, 2015 - Wild Swans
- October 18, 2015 - Some Clear Night
- October 11, 2015 - Lost Graveyards
- October 4, 2015 - Freeze Frame
- September 27, 2015 - On Getting Up
- September 20, 2015 - Peaches
- September 13, 2015 - At the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- September 6, 2015 - Homering Among the Pines
- August 30, 2015 - Hunger for Something Easier
- August 23, 2015 - From Cadillac Mountain
- August 16, 2015 - The Old Gross Place
- August 9, 2015 - Appointment
- August 2, 2015 - Mockingbird
- July 26, 2015 - Listening for Loons
- July 19, 2015 - July Storm
- July 12, 2015 - Fishing
- July 5, 2015 - Island Transport
- June 28, 2015 - Briefly Enough and Summer
- June 21, 2015 - Peonies
- June 14, 2015 - About Bees is What I Say Aloud When You Ask What I'm Thinking
- June 7, 2015 - On Wanting Only One Thing
- May 31, 2015 - Fugue
- May 24, 2015 - Will We Survive?
- May 17, 2015 - The Saint of Returnables
- May 10, 2015 - Miss Shrew
- May 3, 2015 - Three Poems
- April 26, 2015 - Closure
- April 19, 2015 - After Twenty Years
- April 12, 2015 - Eel-Grass and Sixty-Five Degrees
- April 5, 2015 - Sardine Packer
- March 29, 2015 - The Nots
- March 22, 2015 - Splitting Wood in Winter
- March 15, 2015 - Alms
- March 8, 2015 - The Pet
- March 1, 2015 - Snow-Flakes
- February 22, 2015 - Dog in Winter
- February 15, 2015 - Valentine
- February 8, 2015 - Valentines
- February 1, 2015 - The Present
- January 25, 2015 - Coyotes
- January 18, 2015 - Another Full Moon
- January 11, 2015 - Prayer for Joy
- January 4, 2015 - First Fig and Second Fig
- December 28, 2014 - The Meeting
- December 21, 2014 - The Silent Seers
- December 14, 2014 - Snow
- December 7, 2014 - The Pain Sweepstakes
- November 30, 2014 - Geography
- November 23, 2014 - Vespers
- November 16, 2014 - Balloon
- November 9, 2014 - When I was a Little Cuban Boy
- November 2, 2014 - The man in front of you
- October 26, 2014 - The Mill
- October 19, 2014 - Chick Magnets
- October 12, 2014 - Recuerdo
- October 5, 2014 - Elegy for the Stepfather
- September 28, 2014 - Crossing the Blueberry Barrens
- September 21, 2014 - Fog-Talk
- September 14, 2014 - Her Harvest
- September 7, 2014 - The Dragonfly
- August 31, 2014 - From Under Mount Blue
- August 24, 2014 - Rock Maples
- August 17, 2014 - The Granite Stoop
- August 10, 2014 - Young Pine
- August 3, 2014 - Strauss and Cows of Ireland
- July 27, 2014 - Doing Time
- July 20, 2014 - After the Splash
- July 13, 2014 - Some Kind of Hunter
- July 6, 2014 - Between Stars
- June 29, 2014 - Brothers
- June 22, 2014 - In the Pasture
- June 15, 2014 - The Light
- June 8, 2014 - Mother Tongue
- June 1, 2014 - About Bees is What I Say Aloud When You Ask What I'm Thinking
- May 25, 2014 - Listening for Loons
- May 18, 2014 - Old Whitman Loved Baseball
- May 11, 2014 - Salt and Pepper
- May 4, 2014 - Stunned
- April 27, 2014 - The Saints of Returnables
- April 20, 2014 - Laughter
- April 13, 2014 - Why I Have a Crush on You, UPS Man
- April 6, 2014 - Glacial Erotic
- March 30, 2014 - Keepsake
- March 23, 2014 - One of the Dummies at Night
- March 16, 2014 - The Lady and the Tramp
- March 9, 2014 - Thousand Dollar Thumbs
- March 2, 2014 - A Prayer, A Welcome
- February 23, 2014 - Shopping Together
- February 16, 2014 - After Another Difficult Week
- February 9, 2014 - What Now, Praying?
- February 2, 2014 - Inside the Stone
- January 26, 2014 - Splitting Wood in Winter
- January 19, 2014 - Gold Stars
- January 12, 2014 - Starting the Subaru at Five Below
- January 5, 2014 - Burning in the Rain
- December 29, 2013 - Faith
- December 22, 2013 - A Notable Failure
- December 15, 2013 - Ode to Popcorn
- December 8, 2013 - Snow-Flakes
- December 1, 2013 - Codydog
- November 24, 2013 - Worry Bone
- November 17, 2013 - The House on the Hill
- November 10, 2013 - Shell
- November 3, 2013 - The Solemn Son
- October 27, 2013 - The Lost Seed
- October 20, 2013 - October Moon
- October 13, 2013 - The School Bus
- October 6, 2013 - The Man Who Looked Like Elvis
- September 29, 2013 - My Father, My Hands
- September 22, 2013 - No Child of Earthly Kitchens
- September 15, 2013 - Sardine Packer
- September 8, 2013 - September Staying
- September 1, 2013 - The Great Rock in the Woods -- for Matty Goodman
- August 25, 2013 - Ants
- August 18, 2013 - Summer Episcopalians ~notes from an introvert
- August 11, 2013 - Villanelle For The Pond
- August 4, 2013 - Up with Fishermen and Birds
- July 28, 2013 - To a Garden Spider
- July 21, 2013 - At The Birdfeeder
- July 14, 2013 - Thicker Than Country
- July 7, 2013 - Where the Deer Were
- June 30, 2013 - The Old Gross Place
- June 23, 2013 - A Piano at Evening
- June 16, 2013 - Magic Show
- June 9, 2013 - Understory
- June 2, 2013 - On Getting Up
- May 26, 2013 - Extra Innings
- May 19, 2013 - Stealing Lilacs
- May 12, 2013 - Fiddleheads
- May 5, 2013 - My Hairy Legs
- April 28, 2013 - The Dump Pickers
- April 21, 2013 - Night Wind in Spring
- April 14, 2013 - Spring Thaw, Loon Return and Growing Lettuce
- April 7, 2013 - For Cullen: Four Days Old, Waking
- March 31, 2013 - Which World
- March 24, 2013 - The Clerks
- March 17, 2013 - Last Writes
- March 10, 2013 - Out Here
- March 3, 2013 - Musician
- February 24, 2013 - Divorce
- February 20, 2013 - A Prayer, A Welcome
- February 17, 2013 - Airfield
- February 10, 2013 - Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat Nor Drink
- February 3, 2013 - The Goldfish
- January 27, 2013 - The Street
- January 20, 2013 - The Alligator's Hum
- January 13, 2013 - Housekeeping of a Kind
- January 6, 2013 - Sandwiches
- December 30, 2012 - Sixty
- December 23, 2012 - The Cross of Snow
- December 16, 2012 - Eighty-Five
- December 9, 2012 - He Sees the Future
- December 2, 2012 - Nude
- November 25, 2012 - The Red and Green Cement Truck
- November 18, 2012 - Gulls in Wind
- November 11, 2012 - The Habitation
- November 4, 2012 - Hands Reaching
- October 28, 2012 - Humane Society
- October 21, 2012 - Regeneration
- October 14, 2012 - Frenchboro
- October 7, 2012 - Lost Graveyards
- September 30, 2012 - New England Asters
- September 23, 2012 - Today, the Traffic Signals All Changed for Me
- September 16, 2012 - If You Should Die Before I Do
- September 9, 2012 - Spooked Moose
- September 2, 2012 - The Net
- August 26, 2012 - Making the Turn
- August 19, 2012 - Night
- August 12, 2012 - Hearing Your Words, And Not A Word Among Them
- August 5, 2012 - Garden Spider
- July 29, 2012 - Watermelon
- July 22, 2012 - From the Toy Box
- July 15, 2012 - 1940 and Rained Out
- July 8, 2012 - Regret and Snap
- July 1, 2012 - Unknown Algonquin Females, Circa 1800s
- June 24, 2012 - Ball Smacks Mouth, Splits Lip
- June 17, 2012 - How to Catch a Poem
- June 10, 2012 - Nobody at Treblinka
- June 3, 2012 - Question in a Field and To an Artist, to Take Heart
- May 27, 2012 - They All Come Back
- May 20, 2012 - Spaghetti Western Days
- May 13, 2012 - The Man Who Likes Cows
- May 6, 2012 - Resurrection
- April 29, 2012 - Spring Cleaning
- April 22, 2012 - Zones of Peeper
- April 15, 2012 - Death And The Turtle
- April 8, 2012 - Mud Season
- April 1, 2012 - The Power of It
- March 25, 2012 - Porcupine
- March 18, 2012 - Essence
- March 11, 2012 - A Parrot
- March 4, 2012 - Salt to the Brain
- February 26, 2012 - To The Infinitesimal
- February 19, 2012 - The Glass Harmonica
- February 12, 2012 - Feasting
- February 5, 2012 - Old
- January 29, 2012 - Sudden Death and January
- January 22, 2012 - Where Inspiration Has Learned a Thing or Two
- January 15, 2012 - Potatoes
- January 8, 2012 - What Positions Do They and We Assume In the Encapsulated Stillness?
- January 1, 2012 - The Plymouth On Ice
- December 25, 2011 - Winter Friends
- December 18, 2011 - To Jesus on His Birthday
- December 11, 2011 - Sentences and Where He Went
- December 4, 2011 - Coming Home
- November 27, 2011 - The Hands
- November 20, 2011 - The Poet
- November 13, 2011 - United States
- November 6, 2011 - For the Falling Man
- October 30, 2011 - Mom Gets In One of My Poems
- October 23, 2011 - Reuben Bright
- October 16, 2011 - The Last Lamp-Lighters
- October 9, 2011 - Washington County, Maine and By Passamaquoddy Bay
- October 2, 2011 - Moth at My Window
- September 25, 2011 - The Geese
- September 18, 2011 - Peaches
- September 11, 2011 - Some Clear Night
- September 4, 2011 - Mr. Fix-It
- August 28, 2011 - Mantis
- August 21, 2011 - Feed My Birds
- August 14, 2011 - Her Telling
- August 7, 2011 - Hummingbird
- July 31, 2011 - Transportation
- July 24, 2011 - Closing Time
- July 17, 2011 - In Nightgowns
- July 10, 2011 - Early Morning Trumpet
- July 3, 2011 - A Little Bit of Timely Advice
- June 26, 2011 - Driving Down East
- June 19, 2011 - The Crossing
- June 12, 2011 - Inland
- June 5, 2011 - Roses
- May 29, 2011 - Night Patrol
- May 22, 2011 - Free Agent
- May 15, 2011 - April And Then May
- May 8, 2011 - Nature
- May 1, 2011 - April Prayer