Marlborough Woods . Brown in their winter skins, they rise up, Lean pointers, borders of the wilderness. After January rain, glass branches rock, Melting and re-freezing as air shifts from fog to chill. Across the shelf of Mount Monadnock, Under a white flannel sun, Wind blows the snow like cold…
From the Pacific Rim Desk of the RichardHowe.com blog comes a new poem by our far-flung correspondent Tom Sexton, who recently traversed North America lengthwise to open shop for several months Down East. We welcome Tom and his wife, Sharyn, back to New England for a spell. This is Tom…
In the rh.com archives, I found another post I had written about Harry de Metropolis in 2008. Time flies. Some of the information repeats what I have in my new post, but there is enough different material that I thought I’d post it as a companion piece to give a…
One of the lost poets of Lowell is Harry de Metropolis, born Sept. 22, 1913, in Lowell. He graduated from Lowell High School (1931) and West Point (1939), and served in the European and Pacific theaters in World War II. In 1952, the William-Frederick Press of N.Y. published a collection…
Sitting in my backyard in the sun late this morning, I heard church bells and was reminded of days like this when I was in my carefree 20s, working irregular hours, and enjoying the good weather when we had it. On a day like today I could grab a book and read under…
MAYA ANGELOU PAPERS ACQUIRED; REMEMBERING HER IN LOWELL This is a re-post from Oct. 27, 2010, offered today in remembrance of Maya Angelou’s life and writings. The post began with a head note: Today’s NYTimes includes this article about the Harlem-based Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the NY Public Library…
I’ve posted this prose poem from 1978 on the blog before. It was written soon after the experience that provided the brief story thread. In those days, I was constantly on the lookout for images and incidents that could feed a new composition. I wanted to write, write, write. It’s a slight piece, but…
From the Pacific Rim and the richardhowe.com western desk comes a new poem by Tom Sexton, occupier of poetry precincts on both coasts of America and distinguished alumnus of Lowell High School. — PM . Leaving Lowell, Mass. for San Francisco, 1915, a Postcard Standing beside Mayor Murphy on the…
(re-posted from Sept. 14, 2008) “Thomas Fitzsimmons was born in Lowell in October 1926. He entered WWII as a young merchant mariner following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and left the US Army Air Force after the bombing of Hiroshima. He taught for many years at Oakland University in Michigan…
MassMoments reminds us that writer Lucy Larcom – one of Lowell’s iconic Mill Girls in her youth, died on this day April 17, 1893. In her autobiography A New England Girlhood, Lucy Larcom wrote: “From the beginning Lowell had a high reputation for good order, morality, piety, and all…