Someone out there will know the answer to this question: When humankind first developed a written language, how long did it take before poetry was created? Since that moment, whenever it was, for centuries the poet has been the one to bring forth all the emotions, sensations, observations, intuitions, and all manners of mindfulness to the written word. By doing so, we’ve learned from one another and, through the language of the poet, that learning has aided in our evolution.

            Poetry is the music of the soul. Poetry is the expression of things we could not otherwise speak. It is the life, the living, the death of all things, expressed in word with or without timing. Poetry, probably more than any other form of communication, is exclusive to humans and therefore must make us even more human.

            April is Poetry Month and the Mattapoisett Public Library closed it out in superlative form.

            On April 28, the library opened its doors to Dzvinia Orlowsky, a Ukrainian American poet born in Cambridge, Ohio to Ukrainian immigrants. She and her siblings spoke only Ukrainian at home, learning English, well the American version, from television. They learned all the swear words, of course, as well as the cultural phrases and nuances.

            As Orlowsky stood before the literary devotees who came to hear her read, a serine veil fell over facial features. She was comfortable in front of a crowd standing figuratively unclothed as her poetry flowed from her mouth – sometimes floating, sometimes bleeding.

            Orlowsky is a master at her craft. She has received the Sheila Motton Book Award, is a Pushcart Poet, and, as a translator, received the 2016 National Endowment for the Arts Translation Grant along with her translation partner. She currently teaches an MFA program at Pine Manor College and Providence College.

            But it was her childhood, which she described as having been raised “in a minor tone” that texturizes her works.

            Her most recent publication, Bad Harvest, has been praised across the country as “entrapping and entrancing … full of seductively quirky humor,” but it was her voice reading her own carefully crafted verses that reached out and touched us.

            Several of her pieces began with the despair of painful experiences, like poorly tuned instruments searching for the right note to play and then emerging lyrically to a joyful conclusion. Others spoke to the harsh realities of a woman aging, the slow deliberate waning of desire that could be rekindled, if only, and of being a woman tied to the body image myth.

            Orlowsky spoke a great deal about the wartime realities her parents faced in the Ukraine, the starvation and genocide that still runs like a river through her mental processing in spite of never having experienced those events firsthand. Children inherit all that their parents were.

            Bad Harvestwas titled after her parents’ experiences of famine and torture and imprisonment. But ultimately she rises out of that darkness from the joys of life to the crazy humor of a father wondering aloud to his Americanized daughters what the word “fack” must mean.

            Orlowsky’s presentation, while hitting on hard topics, was overall filled with light. And as an educator, she clearly is comfortable in that role.

            Orlowsky said reading poetry was not what inspired her to write poetry; it was more so listening to the verses of songs her father would sing while playing the guitar at home. But, she also confessed that, as an American kid, “My urge was towards the British invasion, you know, the Beatles.”

            To learn more about Orlowsky you may visit www.nepoetryclub.org.

By Marilou Newell

            Throughout the coastal waters of New England, the annual migration of river herring has been a seasonal “must see” event. Watching thousands of small fish swim upstream to natal waters, traveling from saltwater oceans to freshwater streams and ponds, is one of nature’s miracles. Yet these marine animals, like most living things on the plant, have been negatively impacted by human activity. But is that the whole story?

            On April 29, Alewives Anonymous, Inc. held its annual meeting. The group was founded in 1984 to promote and educate the Tri-town communities of Marion, Rochester, and Mattapoisett about all things alewives, more commonly called herring. After enjoying a homemade supper of chowder, stuffed quahogs, and apple cobbler, President Arthur Benner gave his report.

            His report listed herring migration survey counts since 1988, the first year an electronic counter was employed. Over the past 31 years, herring counts have declined to a discouraging low, despite intermittent glimmers of hope. For instance, in 1989, 39,938 fish were counted at the confluence of the Mattapoisett River at Snipatuit Pond, with spikes as high as 130,296 between 1998 and 2000. The 2018 count, however, was a meager 5,241.

            With moratoria in place for the past several years, the group is seeking to better understand natural and manmade stress factors in the hope that, with good data and marine science, these tiny fish can be saved.

            Guest speaker Christopher Rillahan, a doctoral student from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, has been studying herring migration since 2017 in both the Tri-town area and Cape Cod. Rillahan’s observations and studies were aided by the use of sonar imaging equipment that granted visual clarity to what was going on with herring populations during the migration. But, moreover, Rillahan pinpointed when the fish were most actively moving through the river systems.

            Historically, Rillahan said, herring counts were conducted during a 12-hour daylight sampling when it was believed the fish were most active. What the sonar uncovered was herring activity during sunrise and sunset.

            Displayed on the screen, the audience witnessed the herring swimming in large balls through counting areas in the morning and evening, images that heretofore could not have been seen. Over several migration seasons in both Mattapoisett and on Cape Cod, Rillahan confirmed the herring movement in those two times of the day. But he also found other surprising information. Could something else be impacting herring stocks besides the possibility of counts being off a bit? It had long been established that commercial fishing had been a prime suspect. Maybe there were others.

            What Rillahan found was the presence of predator fish, primarily striped bass and bluefish, patrolling the herring well upriver from the ocean. And then there are the cormorants. The sonar images clearly found the fast-moving birds darting at the herrings’ movement. And last but not least, there was also one massive snapping turtle.

            Rillahan said the southeast is a major area for herring study, and counts take place primarily in April. It is now understood that volunteers counting fish may be missing a large percentage of the migrating fish due to nighttime activity.

            Another area not well understood, Rillahan explained, is what becomes of a herring after it has spawned. He said earlier studies noted herring would spawn at four years of age or older. Today, most spawning fish are only two years of age, causing scientists to scratch their heads. Why has it changed, and where are the mature fish? Are there mature fish?

            “The life of the river herring is far more complex then previously believed,” Rillahan stated. He said his studies of data continue, and he hopes to provide further critical information in the coming months.

            To learn more about river herring, you may visit www.riverherringnetwork.com, www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov, or www.plumblibrary.com/services/alewives-ananymous.org.

By Marilou Newell

            Courtesy of the League of Women Voters, Mattapoisett residents enjoyed the chance to meet some of their 2019 Annual Election candidates on April 27 – all running uncontested now, after Seth Hiller dropped out of the Board of Selectmen race earlier this month, essentially handing the election to incumbent Jordan Collyer for a sixth term in office. But don’t let that deter you from showing up to the polls on May 13 to cast your ballot! Pending all passes at Town Meeting, there will be two ballot questions: one to fund the Old Rochester Regional athletic field and auditorium upgrades, and one to fund a new fire station.

            During the event held Saturday at the library, town officials made one of their few remaining fire station pitches to voters ahead of the May 13 Annual Town Meeting, hoping the townspeople will approve the $9,275,000 project.

            “From a financial standpoint, this an excellent time for the community to look at advancing this project,” said Town Administrator Michael Gagne, who will attend the final town meeting of his career this month before his retirement this year. Within the next five years, 79.3 percent of current debt exclusion capital projects will have been paid off, dropping from $14.3 million to $2.75 million, he said. “I think you need to do this right now – the market is right to borrow.”

            Last year, Town Meeting voted to appropriate $250,000 towards the engineering and design of the new fire station to replace the outdated and safety non-compliant fire station that was built in the 1950s, and the Town formed a committee to explore options.

            According to Gagne, the owner of the average $444,000 home in Mattapoisett would experience a $13.38 annual tax increase to fund the project.

            “As you can see, it’s extremely reasonable,” Gagne said – with a minimal financial impact.

            “We spent a lot of time drilling down on the project,” said Gagne. “[The design engineers] trimmed about $1.1 million out of what they had estimated.”

            Fire Chief Andrew Murray said having a new fire station would attract new and highly-qualified candidates to the department, although he said that for now he is not looking to increase full-time day staff beyond the current two full-time firefighters. In addition to a contamination area and separate bathrooms for the three female employees is a fitness center, Murray said, “to motivate [staff] to stay healthy and stay fit.”

            “People say, ‘Wow, this is really big’,” said Collyer, an advocate for the project. When the Town first looked at a new station in the mid ‘80s, he said, the building was already insufficient in some ways. The last attempt to upgrade the station was in 2009, Collyer said, “It was certainly grossly deficient, and here we are in 2019 … [and] we’re actually building to catch up for the last 35 years and we’re trying to build ahead as well – We’re actually building a building for 65 years now.”

            The project’s scope has expanding more than the Town thought, Collyer added, but this latest look at a new station has “opened our eyes.” The cost to build was half the cost it is today, and not expected to decrease, ever.

            “I’m a strong advocate for the project for many reasons … the least of which is this has been going on for far too long.

            “We think we’re in a sweet spot at this point,” Collyer continued, “but we also don’t want to be overly ostentatious in our request [as if] we’re asking for too much, but allow ourselves the flexibility. … We feel comfortable, as a committee, that we’ll be able to grow into this space over time without having too much quote-unquote dead space.”

            “The price really is very good,” Gagne said.

            Gagne also gave a Town Meeting briefing, touching on some of the important town issues that will appear on the warrant rather than by reading each article line for line.

            Within the budget, Gagne pointed to employee health insurance as one of the leading financial burdens, with costs rising 8 percent this fiscal year, accounting for $2.3 million out of $25 million budget.

            Also driving the budget, Gagne pointed to an increase in tuition for Old Colony Regional Vocational technical High School, although the Town had prepared for such an increase for years via a regional school stabilization fund.

            “We have the money in that … fund so we don’t take a significant spike in the budget,” Gagne said.

            Solid waste collection and disposal is up some, but because the town is only in its sixth year of a ten-year contract, the town is protected form any major increases until then.

            The debt stabilization fund will allow the town to explore some new growth opportunities, he said, and voters will be asked to continue to transfer another $125,000 this year into the fund.

            Other post employment benefits (OPEB) liabilities continue to climb, but the town has been proactive, having set aside $450,000 every year for nine years, Gagne said.

            “That was an extremely prudent move because that situation has not been any better ,” with increasing insurance costs and more retirees,” said Gagne. “You have a situation where the liability has actually increased.” Three years ago Mattapoisett’s liability was $7 million, and now it’s up to $9.5 million.

            There will be two zoning articles on the warrant, Gagne pointed out – one to increase lot coverage within the industrial zone to stimulate growth, and one to allow medical marijuana marijuana cultivation facilities currently allowed in the industrial zone to provide cannabis for off-site adult-use marijuana companies.

            Gagne said some voters might misunderstand the intent of the bylaw, which is solely to allow cultivation of some adult-use marijuana, not the sale of adult-use marijuana in Mattapoisett.

            “That’s not the case,” Gagne emphasized. “It’s strictly for growing purposes. There will not be retail sales there.

            “We’ve looked at some preliminary host agreements based upon certain percentages,” Gagne continued, pointing out why Mattapoisett might want to consider this new bylaw. “You could be looking at annual revenue … anywhere north of $200,000 a year…. Substantial revenues that could be used for other capital projects further down.”

            The Annual Town Meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 13, at 6:30 pm in the Old Rochester Regional School auditorium.

            The Annual Town Election is on Tuesday, May 21, with polls open 8:00 am -8:00 pm at Old Hammondtown School.

By Jean Perry