Ashley Bryan: Painter, Poet, PERSON Extraordinaire

I have mentioned before that Ashley Bryan is one of my very most favorite people in the entire world.  So imagine my surprise when I came across the following poem in a poetry book I discovered recently.  Wow!  This so incredibly sums up my feelings for Ashley. It details him and his incredible workshop/museum/home on Islesford, Maine, where he resides It is a perfect poem.

Addendum:  Obituary  98 Magical Years!

The Greater Sum of Parts

The thing about Ashley Bryan
isn't that he is
painter and poet
storyteller and scholar
philosopher and veteran
brother and son;
nor is it
his collection of
songs and sea glass
driftwood and bones,
memories of love
dressed in crepe paper flowers.

The thing about Ashley Bryan
is that
when he takes your hand
all those pieces come together
like a found art puppet
like cut-paper collage
like a thing called
grace.

Julia Durango
from Dare to Dream...Change the World
edited by Jill Corcoran

Books I've "reviewed" on this blog:

Anthologies or other books that include Ashley's work:

The Bill Martin, Jr. Big Book of Poetry (Martin)
Dare to Dream...Change the World (Corcoran)
My America (Gilchrist)
Sky Magic (Hopkins)