These unforgettable poems capture Maine

Patricia Smith Ranzoni is an award winning Maine poet, and her book of poems, Bedding Vows, really captures my Maine – from our farms to the woods.

But this book, subtitled Love Poems from Outback Maine, is so much more, capturing our lives from kids through old age. Patricia grew up in rural Maine and lives today in Bucksport.

The back of the book describes it well: No one before now, here, has done it this way – a cultural document as well as bedside reader – to cherish for generations.

I especially enjoyed her poems that included fish and wildlife. Consider this opening line: Trout’s what a good man brings his wife come spring.

Yes! And one of my favorite poems is titled We Hunt.

There are lots of love poems, and I really appreciated poems that seemed to recognize my battle with ALS. One titled Another Long, described my experience in a remarkable and very thoughtful way. And the last two entries, about the loss of a husband by his wife and a wife by her husband, are poems you will never forget.

I will be enjoying these poems for the rest of my life with special thanks to Patricia for sharing them with me.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.