The Battlefield Guide, November 4, 2007
Poetry about Gettysburg and Antietam by Rodger Martin, accompanied by traditional and original music.Sunday, November 4, 2007, 2:00 p.m., Community Room
Needham Free Public Library, 1139 Highland Avenue, Needham, MA
Free and open to the public
Refreshments
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library
Just a week before Veterans’ Day, Friends of the Library brings The Battlefield Guide, a Civil War-themed program with contemporary relevance, to the Community Room. The presentation combines traditional and newly composed acoustic music and song with the spoken word from the poetry of Rodger Martin’s long poems, “Gettysburg” and “Antietam.” The pieces use primary and historically accurate accounts from the Civil War battles and the modern battlefield parks as a point of departure to study the individual human toll of war on a culture, then and now. Commentary intersperses the pieces.
Music is composed and arranged by Tim Mowrey and Steve Jones. Also a mandolinist, Tim (Stonewall Bluegrass) is accompanied on vocals and violin by Ellen Carlson (High Range), and on bass by Val Blachly (Sweet, Hot and Sassy).
Rodger Martin has published poetry and fiction in journals throughout the U.S. His sonnet, “Mask,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Entelechy International. His awards include an Appalachia prize for poetry, and fellowships by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Managing editor of The Worcester Review, he teaches journalism at Keene State College, and is the New Hampshire State Coordinator for the Poetry Out Loud Project. In China, he has been published as a member of The Monadnack New Pastoral Poets and writes a bimonthly anecdotal poetry column for The Yangtze River Journal.
The highest loss of life in a single day’s fighting between the Federals and the Confederates was suffered at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation five days later. In his Address on November 19, 1863, Lincoln invoked reverent remembrance of the Battle of Gettysburg, which had been fought on the first three days of July, 1863.
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