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