Poets and writers read aloud from their favorite work in front of the Farmington Post Office this afternoon. The poetry reading was in response to reports that Governor-elect Paul LePage decided to exclude poetry and “dry choral singing” from the gubernatorial inauguration held today in Augusta. In Farmington, poems were handed out to those passing by and poetry books published by Alice James Books were given out by its executive director Carey Salerno. At left, Gretchen Legler, a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Maine Farmington who organized the event said, “The message we want to send is that poetry and all the arts are for everyone to make and to enjoy and we want LePage’s administration to remember that.” A similar event was held in Portland by the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, of which Legler is a member.
