Like much else, the Poetry Marathon, a roving institution in these parts, has been in a holding pattern of late. Also like much else, it has determined to make a soft return in a welcoming place, the barn at the Mulford Farm on James Lane in East Hampton.
The day is next Thursday, the start time is 3:30, and the lineup has Scott and Megan Chaskey, Rosalind Brenner, Carolyn Bistrian, and the free reading's organizer, Dee Slavutin, who reports, "We've ordered late afternoon sun to pour through wide open barn doors. Rustic, pastoral, a perfect setting for a cup of mulled cider and nibbles to charm your palate." What's more, "flute and shruti box by the Chaskeys will charm you."
About the poets: Ms. Bistrian "is a potter, a painter, a jewelry maker," Ms. Slavutin writes. Ms. Brenner's poems have been published in journals ranging from The Southampton Review to The Arroyo Literary Review. Books by Mr. Chaskey, once of Amagansett's Quail Hill Farm, include "Seedtime," and Ms. Chaskey, a yoga therapy instructor, is the author of "Birdsong Under the Wisdom Tree," a poetry collection.
Below is Ms. Slavutin's "On My Walk."
I am most comfortable on my walk
when I reach the old wooden bulwark.
Worn, but still standing,
come-upon old age, survived
white-capped Gardiner's Bay winter blasts.
Grayed jagged peaks
measure what is missing,
as if to remind the passer-by
we will not forever be.
Don't know who or why
they took down the fishing nets.
I miss the bearded seamen
scudding in their small skiffs,
the smell of their steaming coffee,
our morning hello wave.
Their deep rutted faces revealed
nothing was missing from their lives.