WEST PARIS —“Poetry as Prayer” with guest speaker, Stuart Kestenbaum, Maine’s Poet Laureate, who will present readings of his poems throughout the worship service starting at 9 a.m. April 28. All are welcome. Refreshments following the service.

Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum.

Kestenbaum is the author of four collections of poems, “Pilgrimage” (Coyote Love Press), “House of Thanksgiving” (Deerbrook Editions), “Prayers and Run-on Sentences” (Deerbrook Editions) and “Only Now” (Deerbrook Editions), and a collection of essays called “The View From Here” (Brynmorgen Press). He has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines including Tikkun, the Sun, and the Beloit Poetry Journal. He was appointed poet laureate of Maine in 2016.

He was the director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle for 27 years, where he established innovative programs combining craft and writing and craft and new technologies. He is an honorary fellow of the American Craft Council and a recipient of the Distinguished Educator’s Award from the James Renwick Alliance.

For more information, contact Marta Clements at 207-674 2143 or mclements96894@roadrunner.com, or Bob Clifford at 207-674-3442 or bobarlen@megalink.net.