'A Thing in the Spring: Poetry as Inspiration' from the Millay House Presents series
Event Date
Friday, April 03, 2026 - 03:00 pm to 05:00 pmJoin Millay House Rockland, Saturday, April 3, from 3 - 5 p.m., at Cafe Grazie, as it kicks off the last traces of winter and head towards the warmth of spring. Three accomplished Midcoast poets—Rennie Ament, Austin Rodenbiker and Audrey Gidman—will read and discuss their work.
In Song of a Second April, Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote,
April this year, not otherwise
Than April of a year ago,
Is full of whispers, full of sighs,
Of dazzling mud and dingy snow;
Hepaticas that pleased you so
Are here again, and butterflies.
"We’ll enjoy delectable poetry, conversation, drink, and tasty nibbles at this beautiful, locally-owned and sourced cafe that proclaims 'bread and pastry via the sea, the season, superstition, tradition, and the garden,'" said Millay House Rockland, in a news release.
Rennie Ament is the author of Full-Time Mammal, selected by Brenda Shaughnessy as the winner of the 2025 Iowa Poetry Prize and forthcoming from University of Iowa Press in April 2026, as well as Mechanical Bull, an Editor’s Choice selection published by Cleveland State University Poetry Center in 2023. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Bennington Review, Cleveland Review of Books, Poetry Daily, Denver Quarterly, Washington Square Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Owls Head.
Austin Rodenbiker's work has appeared in The Yale Review, Conduit, Poetry, Tin House, The Columbia Review, Gulf Coast, Foglifter, and TriQuarterly, among other publications. He's received support for his poetry from Fondation Jan Michalski, ONE Archives, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Anne LaBastille Writers Residency, and Fire Island Artist Residency.
Audrey Gidman is the author of two chapbooks, griefnotes (Porkbelly Press, 2026) and body psalms (Slate Roof Press, 2023), winner of the Elyse Wolf Prize. She serves as guest editor for Frontier Poetry, chapbook editor for Newfound, and Poet Laureate of Belfast.
The event is free. Refreshments can be purchased from Cafe Grazie.
Event Date
Address
Cafe Grazie
148 Main Street
Rockland, ME 04841
United States

