Local Poet To Celebrate Artists Connie Fox And Bill King At Guild Hall

Megan Chaskey, Sag Harbor poet, musician, teacher, healing practitioner, and daughter of East Hampton painter, Connie Fox, will be reading from her latest book, Birdsong Under the Wisdom Tree, Collected Poems, A Book of Hours in the Life of a Poet in celebration of Guild Hall’s Connie Fox and William King, An Artist Couple exhibit.

Chaskey’s latest book features artwork from Connie Fox. (Courtesy Photo)

The book combines a lifetime of poems, journal entries, and memoir that “traces the development of her poet’s sensibility and voice grounded in her experience growing up in an artistic family in the various places she has lived including New Mexico, Vermont, and Cornwall, England to the East End of Long Island.” Its cover showcases a painting by her mom and that’s not the book’s only family connection. She also pays tribute to her stepfather, the late, local sculptor, William King, who inspired several of Chaskey’s poems.

“Bill King was such a warm supporter of my poetry,” Chaskey explained, “and the inspiration for this book from the beginning.”

Chaskey, who resides in Sag Harbor with her husband, poet/organic farmer Scott Chaskey, has taught poetry and writing locally for over 20 years. Most recently, she led a Poetry Bookmaking Workshop series at Springs Public School that was sponsored by the Anna Mirabai Lytton Foundation for Arts and Wellness. The Power of Storm, her one-act play about environmental writer Rachel Carson, was featured during Sylvester Manor’s Plant & Sing Festival in 2013.

Chaskey’s first book of poems, Heartwood, which was illustrated by Fox, was published in 1980. Her second book of poems, Voice, was published in 2005. This time it was her stepfather who provided the book’s illustrations. Her works have also been published in The Light of City and Sea, Sag Harbor Is, and Peace On Earth: A Book of Prayers From Around the World.

Megan Chaskey’s reading and book signing at Guild Hall will take place on Sunday, December 18th at 2 p.m. Admission to the event is free.

Guild Hall is located at 158 Main Street in East Hampton. For more information, call or visit guildhall.org.