[caption id="attachment_47951" align="alignleft" width="300"] Megan Chaskey.[/caption]
Sag Harbor poet, musician, teacher, and healing practitioner, Megan Chaskey, will be reading from her new book, “Birdsong Under the Wisdom Tree, Collected Poems, A Book of Hours in the Life of a Poet,” at Romany Kramoris Gallery, 41 Main Street, Sag Harbor, on Saturday, February 13 at 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served. In her book, Ms. Chaskey interweaves a lifetime of poems, journal entries, and memoir as she traces the various places she has lived including New Mexico, Vermont, Cornwall, England to the East End of Long Island.
This is a love story: of meeting her husband poet/organic farmer Scott Chaskey through poetry while in England, of Ms. Chaskey’s love of the musical and mystical in words, and of her deep intimacy with both the inner landscape of imagination and the eloquent worlds of nature and relationship. The cover of the book features a painting by East Hampton artist, Connie Fox, Ms. Chaskey’s mother. The author also honors her stepfather, the late, local sculptor, William King in one section as well as with several poems. “Bill King was such a warm supporter of my poetry,” says She says, “and the inspiration for this book from the beginning.”
Ms. Chaskey has taught poetry and writing for over 20 years at local schools, summer camps and workshops including most recently a Poetry Bookmaking Workshop series at Springs Public School sponsored by the Anna Mirabai Lytton Foundation for Arts and Wellness. Ms. Chaskey’s one-act play “The Power of Storm,” about the environmental writer Rachel Carson, was produced in 2013 at the Plant & Sing Festival at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island.
Ms. Chaskey has previously published two books of poems, Heartwood (1980) illustrated by Connie Fox, and Voice (2005) illustrated by William King. Megan’s poems have been published in various magazines and anthologies, including The Light of City and Sea, Sag Harbor Is, and Peace On Earth: A Book of Prayers From Around the World.
For more information, visit meganchaskey.com or romanykramorisgallery.com.