Beannachtaí Trasna are the words that leave me, they waft and wend their way to you from my acre in Ireland to your acre in Lowell and beyond, through earth, sea and sky…they mean Blessings Across. Happy New Year to all as December cedes to January, another year turns. We…
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Virtual Schwarzenegger By David Daniel Every January my wife tells me I spend more time writing my list of New Year’s resolutions than I do keeping them. But not this year. 2022 is gonna be different. Okay, some resolutions I’ll probably fail with. Watch TV less, read more. Cut back…
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The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. I have always followed my instincts in choosing books to recommend, so this posting is a little different. The five books explored here were selected by David Moskowitz, a thoughtful and dedicated course leader at Brandeis Lifelong…
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The Bridge Gregory F. DeLaurier Early December and the trees in the forest had lost their leaves. Walking through it was like being in a cemetery, or among some ancient obelisks a lost people had erected eons ago, with a strange sadness over what once had been green, fully alive.…
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Boarding School Blues: Chapter 27 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 27: Friends The day after Thanksgiving, Blanche spent the afternoon at her friend Cecile’s house. Maman was taking the siblings to Woolworth’s to renew the stock of school supplies and had promised a stop at the soda fountain if behavior warranted…
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The Poetry of Mapmaking: Retracing Maps of Northern Maine and Elsewhere By Christine O’Connor Detail from Phillips’ Map of the ‘Moosehead – Allagash Region of Northern Maine’ (1978) This past summer I visited Harding’s Bookstore in Wells, Maine. It was the first time since the start of the pandemic.…
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Trasna is pleased to announce that poet Daniel Murphy will join its team of editors. This week we feature four of his poems. Whether it’s a “rusty gate in a field of rock,” or “the cream cheese on your cheek,” Murphy explores the expansive to the intimate. There is a rhythm in…
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Boarding School Blues: Chapter 26 By Louise Peloquin Ch. 26: Bon appétit! Gargantuan appetites wiped out the feast Tante Lucie had spent days preparing. Blanche watched spellbound as the ovenware plates were filled, cleaned, refilled and cleaned again. The sight of loaded forkfuls so quickly devoured made her feel a…
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No Hitter By Mark Cote My mother told me that when we were young, my sister had a way of finding wounded animals; birds that couldn’t fly, rabbits that couldn’t jump, stray cats with twisted tails, bringing them home and playing nurse maid, feeding and caring for them until they…
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It Sticks with You By David Daniel “Ouch,” the new kid whined. “Owww.” I looked back. He was red-faced and struggling to keep up. He’d strayed off the woods trail and into briars. Beneath the hem of his plaid Bermudas and above his glaringly white tube socks, small berries of…
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