NRCM's "My Maine This Week" traveling photography exhibit will be in Portland at Hope.Gate.Way beginning Friday, September 3rd. Come to Portland for First Friday Art Walk and stop in to see the exhibit (at the corners of High St. and Cumberland Ave.). Also on exhibit, photos by NRCM's Beth Dimond.
Read what people have said about why they love Maine.
Why You're Thankful
Read stories and view photos of why people are thankful to live in or visit Maine.
Did you miss last week's "My Maine This Week?" Click on the links below and see previous submissions.
Read past poetry and prose submitted to "My Maine This Week."
Show your love for Maine by sending us your photos, poems, and short prose for “My Maine This Week,” created especially for you! Click here for guidelines. Check back weekly to enjoy a glimpse of how others celebrate what makes the nature of Maine so special.
ALEWIVES
I am afraid of fish.
I am afraid to look at them,
to watch them struggling upstream
in the spring where the ladder begins.
Within yards of its commencement
the first dead ones begin to float down,
their eyes as blank as buttons,
their bodies floating on the surface
of the stream like leaves.
Everywhere I look there are miraculously more--
some fish already half-way to the top,
others just daring to begin.
With surging strength they fight the current
of the maze, hug its concrete, wriggle upwards
with a motion that appears stationary in the ripples
until, suddenly, they round the next bend
and slip into an eddy.
I should have come hungry to witness this,
arrived sweaty and sleepless
as I imagine them to be.
Ospreys hover overhead.
Crowds tremble on the banks,
wondering why no one thought to bring a net
--to help, or to feast?
In the pond above the ladder,
the survivors are swimming in slow circles,
catching their breath.
--Mariana Stockly Tupper of Yarmouth, Maine
(Inspired by the annual migration at Damariscotta Mills.)
Help protect the alewife population on the St. Croix River by writing to the International Joint Commission before Sept. 17.
Guidelines for Submission to “My
Maine This Week”
Please send all submissions to beth@nrcm.org.
Photographs
• Can be a landscape shot, family picture in favorite place, or any photo that captures why you love Maine.
• Submit in digital format in as high a resolution as possible (a 1-3 MB file size is ideal).
• Include location (at least the town) where photo was
taken.
• Captions are encouraged. Please include any information about the photo - where it was taken, when it was taken, and any other interesting information about the picture.
Poems
• Please keep to no more than 75 lines.
• May be free verse or traditional.
• Please send electronically.
Prose
• Share the joy of a hike you took, a bird you noticed in your yard,
or an action your family took to help protect the Maine we love. Be creative!
• Try to keep it to a few hundred words.
• Be sure to send it electronically!
General guidelines for all categories:
• Highlight the beauty of Maine, experiences
in the Maine outdoors, or tie in to protecting
Maine’s environment.
• Can be humorous, serious, whimsical, or otherwise
evoke a strong positive feeling about the nature of Maine.
• You do not need to be a member of NRCM to submit work (although
we hope you are a member, or will consider becoming one).
• Please include your name and address.
Just your name and town will appear with the work.
• By submitting photographs and other work to the Natural Resources Council of Maine's "My Maine This Week,” you agree to allow NRCM to use the work in other NRCM media (elsewhere on
our website, in our newsletter, videos, etc.) We may also, on occasion, provide the work to a third party, so long as it is in promotion of NRCM. We will always acknowledge you, and will do our best to notify
you in advance.
Thank you so much for your interest in “My Maine This Week”
and for your support for NRCM.
