Life as a poem put to paper: Guilford’s Verandah Porche releases new poetry collection

Life as a poem put to paper

Verandah Porche and her literary friends moved to an abandoned farm in Guilford in 1968 to create what would become a legendary commune. And she wanted her life to be a poem.

Porche, 67, has just published a new collection of poems, Sudden Eden, an autobiography in verse. As she has lived a rich life filled with family, friends, farming, lovers and farewells — good birthing, good food, good conversation, good lovemaking, good pies and good politics — the reading is rich as well.

The title Sudden Eden has many layers of meaning to Porche. One refers to her coming to Vermont to create a kind of peaceable kingdom for herself. She is the daughter of first-generation Jewish Americans, which leads her to another meaning of the title.

“I write poems all the time,” Porche said. “If I’m driving, I can write sideways. I started writing songs at a certain point because it was so dangerous to write and drive. Songs you can sing and repeat and they stay in your mind better.”