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Lowell-rooted poet Joe Donahue is one of the subjects of an essay titled “Apocalypticism: A Way Forward for Poetry” in the Chicago Review. Read the essay by Peter O’Leary here. Donahue has spent years mastering long serial poems that combine elements of mysticism, esotericism, protest, and the alienation of the…
Read More »Picking up on Tony Sampas’s documentary photographs of Cote’s Market on Salem Street, here’s an excerpt from a poem by Marie Louise St. Onge that was published in the book “French Class: French Canadian-American Writings on Identity, Culture, and Place” (Loom Press, 1999).—PM . from One Vegetable and Silence for…
Read More »Tom Sexton sent a new poem from the coast of Maine where he’s wintering more easily than in the Alaskan icebox. He’s working on a new book of poems. Lowell (and all that that contains) is the subject. Look for the new collection in the fall. In the meantime, mark…
Read More »Brian Williams in 2006 reported on the back story of Robert Frost’s poem written for President Kennedy. See the clip of Frost reading and find out what happened. This is our Robert Frost of the Merrimack Valley, who grew up in Lawrence and graduated from Lawrence High School. Here’s the…
Read More »While the blizzard blows and snows, boston.com is inviting readers to become haiku writers. Here’s the link. I’ll give mine exclusively to rh.com: . Snow blows right to left, Going somewhere else to stick. My white cat stays curled. . —Paul Marion (c) 2010
Read More »Memory of an Afternoon Hot humid Manhattan afternoon. Broadway’s din is ear splittingly loud. Suddenly, from somewhere on high, as though from heaven, a hugely amplified voice booms that all traffic must now stop. The first hospital ship is in, the voice says, and it’s carrying the first wounded from…
Read More »With all “The Fighter” buzz, this is a good time re-run Tom Sexton’s poem about the local boxing legend. One of the best things about a good poem is how it stands up to repeated readings or listenings. Maybe Tom should do an audio recording of his Lowell poems. People…
Read More »Speaking of the power of cities, after two highly successful productions in Lowell (2008-09), the Massachusetts Poetry Festival will move its tents, workshops, coffeehouse readings, and auditorium events to downtown Salem in 2011, with a packed schedule of activities set for May 13 and 14. Keep checking www.masspoetry.org for updates as the…
Read More »Lowell-linked poet Joseph Donahue and his poems are examined in a dense and cerebral essay-review by Jeanne Heuving in the Seattle-based literary magazine “Golden Handcuffs Review” (Winter-Spring 2008). Read Heuving’s take on Donahue here. Joe has new fiction in the current issue of the magazine (Summer-Fall 2010), but unfortunately his selection is…
Read More »This poem comes from my days living in Pawtucketville in the 1980s. It was first published in “The Spanner,” the news bulletin of the now-Independent University Alumni Association at Lowell, related to UMass Lowell.—PM . 214 Sixth Avenue Bright snow at midnight in the shut-down neighborhood, Mute homes of folks I can’t…
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