She has serenaded sold out crowds with her sweet song. She once taught Transcendental Meditation in the former Soviet Union. This is not an advertisement for world's most interesting woman, but if it were, Ruth Guillard would be a prime candidate.

A college professor once told Guillard that her poetic verse was simple, heartfelt and very accessible. The gentle octogenarian has been writing poetry for two years and she has already published two books.

She and her husband Bob haved lived in a cozy saltbox overlooking the meadows of Burnham Cove for 32 years.

One day Guillard said she became enamoured by a rose, so she decided to write, and the creative spark ignited.

“I would have an experience or an inner feeling, and then suddenly a little light would go on as if, you know, when you turn on a car ignition and before the engine starts, the light turns on,” Guillard said.

Guillard's kind, grandmotherly demeanor is belied by the playful flicker in her eyes and the sprightly way she speaks.

Her poems have a sense of “being there,” offering a simple meditation on the subleties of life. Universal messages, Guillard said, is how she connects with her readers.

“There is something that you want to share with people, because you know that they have that same impulse in them, and that's a good thing; and that's what art, and music and poetry is supposed to do,” she said.

Guillard carresses words into poems, weaving colorful landscapes among steaming pots of tea, boats among tall pine masts, sapphire skies and waters lapping at the rocks.

Her verses turn from insightful to downright funny at the turn of a page, as she captures a scene like a photographer snapping a camera.

Whether it's her vivid observational approach or her endearing spirit, Guillard said there's no ego in her poetry, if it comes from the right place.

“There's a quiet place in your mind; it's sort of the zone in poetry writing and it's very near to when you're meditating — you're transcending all thought processes. When you're writing poetry, it's near there, but just in the relative.”

Readers have also taken notice to Guillard's talent. Her poem, “Spring Thaw,” was recently published in Maine Poet Laureate Wesley McNair's book “Take Heart,” a collection of native poems that includes the works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Guillard's most recent book, “On a Fair Wind,” can be purchased at Sherman's Maine Books and Stationery in Boothbay Harbor, along with her other book, “From Burnham Cove,” which is also listed on www.amazon.com.