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. Easter . To get to church you have to cross the river, First breadwinner for the town, its wide Mud-colored currents cleansing forever The swill-making villages at its side. The disinfected voice of the minister For a moment is one of the clues, But he is talking of nothing…
Read More »Church of the Immaculate Conception . Because the massive side door is slightly ajar at 6 a.m., I decide to pay a visit, to inhabit my past. Inside it could be night. Old women kneeling. Perfume thick as mist. To my surprise the man with the purple-red stain on half…
Read More »The 2nd Annual Lowell Writers and Publishers Winter Roundup is set for this Saturday, Feb. 23, 12.30 to 4 pm, upstairs at the Old Court Irish pub, Central and Middle streets in downtown Lowell. See who is behind the books and pick up the newest publications by area authors. Among…
Read More »Here’s a hat tip to the climate-change demonstrators in Washington, D.C., who are speaking on behalf of the planet this holiday weekend. Lowelltown is as white tonight as the monuments in the capital city. I wrote this poem after a family trip to Washington in the summer of 2004. There…
Read More »The Lowell Poets reading at the Gloucester Writers Center has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 6, at 1 pm, in the fishing hub of the North Shore. Also, with Winterfest pushed ahead to Saturday, Feb. 23, that means the 2nd Annual Lowell Writers and Publishers Winter Roundup at the Old…
Read More »The 2nd Annual Lowell Writers and Publishers Winter Roundup is set for Saturday, February 23, 12.30 to 4.00 pm, upstairs at the Old Court Irish pub at Central and Middle streets in downtown Lowell. Publishers and writers attending include playwright Jack Neary, poet and memoir-writer Judith Dickerman-Nelson, Sweeney-and-Seawell creator Dave Robinson, John…
Read More »This poem is from Matt Miller’s new prize-winning collection of poems called “Club Icarus,” published by the University of North Texas Press. Matt is a Lowell High School graduate who earned degrees at Yale University, where he also played varsity football, and Emerson College. He teaches English and coaches football…
Read More »In 1843, the poet, newspaper editor, and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) published a collection of essays titled The Stranger in Lowell. For a time, he published a newspaper called The Middlesex Standard in Lowell. He was born in Haverhill and lived in both Amesbury and Haverhill. Following is an…
Read More »I enjoyed watching and listening to the inauguration of President Obama this time even more than the first time. In 2009, we knew we were seeing a history-making event. His election both represented and caused a developmental leap in the American psyche. I never thought his re-election would be easy.…
Read More »In 1996, I led a creative writing workshop for the Hellenic Culture Society of Lowell. For the first session I asked the participants to do an exercise. Everyone would contribute one line on the theme of his or her mother’s kitchen. When we had all the individual lines, I took…
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