Goose Eye No. 2 (2022)
A Bit of Humanity Borne Before
The Life and Work of Stanley Foss Bartlett
William F. Chapman
O—poets write
And soldiers fight,
While merchants plan
and scheme;
But what can He
Expect of me?
I only sit and dream.1
Stanley Foss Bartlett sold himself a bit short when he wrote the preceding verse. After all, the young writer was already at work on his first book of poems, which came out when he was just twenty-two years old. Despite his life being tragically cut short while he was still in the prime of his career, Stanley accomplished more in his 35 years than most people manage in twice that time. During his lifetime he published one book of poems and left behind enough others for his family to gather into a second volume; wrote one collection of short stories, a modest but important contribution to Maine lumberjack lore; was for many years an editor and regular feature writer for the Lewiston Journal; and did commercial illustrating work for several well-known Maine brands.2