This photo of Hugh Ogden was taken on Poet’s Island on Rangeley Lake in August 2006.

RANGELEY — On Sunday,  Aug. 5, poetry lovers will gather on the lawn of the Ecopelagicon nature store to honor poet Hugh Ogden.  

Ogden family members will begin the sixth annual Hugh Ogden Memorial Evening of Poetry by reading poems written by their father.

Community members are invited to read a poem by Odgen or one of their own that deals with what meant so much to Ogden — the beauty and mystery of the world, especially Rangeley, and peace among all living things.

Stories, music and other tributes are also welcome. A sign-up sheet will be available at the start of the evening.

The natural beauty and people of Rangeley fill Ogden’s seven books of poetry, especially “Two Roads and this Spring,” “Bringing a Fir Straight Down” and “Turtle Island Tree Psalms.”

Ogden settled in Rangeley in 1975 and built a camp on what his children now call Poet’s Island on Rangeley Lake. In “Turtle Island Tree Psalms,” the speakers of most of Ogden’s poems are particular Rangeley trees, either rooted by the side of Route 17, in local cemeteries or on Poet’s Island.

He also wrote poems for local causes, such as the Rangeley Lake Heritage Trust’s stewardship of South Bog. 

Ogden taught poetry at Trinity College from 1967 until his death in 2006. He also inspired budding poets in nursing homes, prisons and shelters. “He did this because he believed poetry could save lives,” said Pamela Nomura, coordinator for the Poetry Center at Trinity College. “He believed everyone’s voice was important [and that] poetry belonged to everyone.”

Ann Arbor and John Rosenwald of Farmington will read from their works during the second part of the evening. Arbor, a photographer, novelist and poet, grew up in Mexico. She worked in the local paper mill and attended college in Massachusetts.

She has taught English to students from prekindergarten to graduate school, coached the Beloit College women’s basketball team and served as foreign expert in China at Fudan, Nankai, and Zhejiang universities.

As a photographer, she has published work in national and international magazines ranging from the Chicago Tribune to Geo (Germany). Recent one-person shows include “At Home in the World” in North Carolina and “Beauty: A Retrospective” at the University of Maine at Farmington, featuring more than 70 of her works. 

Rosenwald is co-editor of the Beloit Poetry Journal and president of the Beloit Poetry Journal Foundation. Before his retirement in 2010, he was professor of English for 34 years at Beloit College in Wisconsin. As Fulbright Professor of American culture and literature, he has taught in China at Fudan, Nankai, and Zhejiang universities. His poems and translations from German and Chinese have appeared in numerous journals. 

The evening of poetry will begin at 6 p.m. at Ecopelagicon at 7 Pond St.

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