Last night Edmund Charles Baranowski read at the Carriage House. This was his 4th reading for us. His first reading at the Carriage House was a featured role in our 2011 Medieval/Renaissance night. He also featured in 2015, and then starred as our Sweetheart Night poet in 2018.
Last night's reading was special in so many ways. Ed has pancreatic cancer that has spread to other organs and, as he told me, this was very likely his last reading. Ed has read his poetry at Renaissance fairs and other venues throughout the country since 2002. He is known for his Renaissance persona and for his poems that deal with the joys and frailties of being human.
Along with many of our regular audience members, Ed's friends came from places as far away as Atlantic City, NJ and Vermont. His mom and brother were there as well. We filled the room to the allowed capacity, and people stood in the doorways and on the patio as well. I stopped counting heads (inside and out) at 112. There were more. Although Ed couldn't stand for the reading, he sat in front of us and read with incredible beauty and clarity.
After reading and receiving a standing ovation, Ed invited others to read poems of their own, including his mom who read a poem that she wrote for him. He then concluded with one final poem and received another standing ovation. There were both laughter and tears throughout the evening. No one wanted to leave.
In the 27 years since the Carriage House Series began, Tom Plante and I have never seen the room so filled with life and love. We love you Edmund Baranowski: thank you for being you and for being part of the Carriage House family.
Life Is An Expedition: Get Packing!!!
By Edmund Charles Baranowski
Many possess the best excuse for not exploring the possibilities…
They are unable to take a moments rest from all of their responsibilities…
And when they finally catch a break from these…
The only thing they can muster
Is to do all of the stuff
“that should’ve been done”
While wielding a feather duster…
Life is an expedition,
but we dig ourselves
a deepening rut
where we make our self at home…
Exploration
takes a bit of nerve-
to risk everything for the thrill
of experiencing life for all it is worth…
until we are lying still...
I would never tell my brother that the way he lives is wrong.
It is not my place, and further more,
i sing a different song,
and of overcoming fear,
and encouraging every single soul
to hold each other dear.
Life has so many niches, and they will all be filled.
Which one is yours is for you to say.
(This point need not be drilled.)
So, well enough, i leave alone,
for i am driven from the core
to cast my lot to uncertainty,
and to see what is in store…
...though it surely lead to my demise,
is that not where we all are headed?
as i am lying on my deathbed,
this one thing will not be regretted:
i will not wonder what would have been,
if I had only taken chances.
The aches and pains and broken bones
will remind me of the dances,
of all the highs and all the lows,
and all the jubilation;
of the agony, and the ecstasy,
and the unlimited frustration;
of all the traps I fell into,
and each successive liberation;
and of every soul that I hold dear…
…then…
i
will take
my last breath,
– smiling –
setting off for
the final
frontier…
