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Magnesium Nights and Hummingbird Mornings (Isolation Scenes III) By Doug Sparks One: Landlines On Thursday night, I got a call from my mother’s assisted living facility. She is running a fever, I was told. They are testing her, again. My mom has had dementia for over a decade. When it…
Read More »“Flowers for Heroes: North Bank of the Merrimack,” a new colored drawing by Richard Marion from a sketch made while walking near Bridge Street in the Centralville neighborhood (April 2020).
Read More »The launch of Trasna coincides with the feast of Bealtaine, which marks the start of summer in Ireland. Hopefully Trasna will also be the start to something great. Our first piece comes from Sligo author Joe McGowan who explores the pagan and Christian traditions surrounding May 1st. When we were…
Read More »Malcolm Sharps is a writer living in Hungary. His account of leaving England is familiar to anyone who has lived in an industrial city whose economy has been upended, something that people living in Lowell experienced during the 20th century. This is Malcolm’s second appearance on RichardHowe.com. The Leaving of…
Read More »This is the second week of “virus” diary entries by Paul Hudon of Lowell, scholar and teacher and keen observer of the locale and wider world. He is the author of The Valley & Its People: An Illustrated History of the Lower Merrimack and All in Good Time, a book…
Read More »Optional soundtrack Kristos Anestis! By George Chigas Kristos Anestis Alithos Anestis Christ has risen! Indeed, He has risen! Saying that to people as they arrived at the house was about as religious as it got for our family at Easter. I think Aunt Filitsa was the only one who really…
Read More »The False God of Dow by George Chigas At the height of Cambodia’s economic and military power during the Angkor Period (ninth to fifteenth centuries), when a drought or disease threatened the kingdom’s prosperity and security, the ruler, believed to be semi-divine, a deva-raja or god-king, would summon his high…
Read More »A World Crisis Comes to a Small Town in Texas By Frank Wagner UNTIL ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, most people knew about Brenham, Texas, for the ice cream that is made here. Blue Bell Creameries quite rightly promotes their ice cream as the best in the country. The Kruse family…
Read More »The Barbarians Have Arrived After Cavafy by Tom Sexton After a few centuries of patiently waiting outside the city, the barbarians have finally arrived and taken over the Capitol. When did they realize our Republic was rotting from the inside like an overripe pear? Who thought they’d…
Read More »Stephen O’Connor’s new novel is This Is No Time to Quit Drinking: Teacher Burnout and the Irish Powers. A House in Carlisle by Stephen O’Connor I’ve often asked myself if I am envious of those who can afford to live in Carlisle, or if it is a better place to…
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