Gary Metras directed Adastra Press for many years. Now he fishes for trout and writes poems. This poem is from his recent collection Captive in the Here (Cervena Barva Press 2018). At Adastra, Gary brought out several books by Mike Casey and Tom Sexton, regular contributors to our blog. That…
Susan April grew up in Lowell and Dracut. She is a scientist who lives in Maryland. She offered us this dream-like poem from 1989. End of Track by Susan April I’m running home again. The church off Shattuck Street smells like morning Mass. The granite curb feels cool…
Poet, publisher, and bookstore owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti passed away this week at the age of 101. A friend and publisher of Jack Kerouac’s, Ferlinghetti in the late 1980s visited Lowell at least twice as a guest of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! group. He began writing the poem below on a…
Tom Sexton is the author of Cummiskey Alley: New and Selected Lowell Poems, which is available at loompress.com. He is a former Poet Laureate of Alaska and a member of the Lowell High School Hall of Fame. Crossing a Frozen Lagoon on a Sunday Morning by Tom Sexton “800…
This week Trasna is pleased to feature Irish poet, Frank Farrelly, who is based in Waterford city. Frank’s poems here are from his first full collection, The Boiler Room, and reflect on childhood, place and a growing towards an understanding of the complexities of life and living. The poem, Against the…
Poet Brian Simoneau, who grew up in Lowell, has a new book of poems due in June, No Small Comfort (Black Lawrence Press). Pre-order your copy now at this link. His poem “Thorndike Street” appeared in North American Review (Spring 2020). With his permission we reprint it here. Please click…
Here’s a poem from Tom Sexton’s new book, Cummiskey Alley: New and Selected Lowell Poems, which is available at www.loompress.com Triangle Luncheonette by Tom Sexton With its gleaming black-and-white marble floor and even its exotic name, Luncheonette, it could never be mistaken for a lowly diner like the Club…
This week Trasna is pleased to feature the work of K.T. Slattery. A native of Tennessee, who now lives in the West of Ireland, Slattery is a familiar with Transatlantic crossings. “My biggest regret / Moving across the wide ocean- / I missed that glorious day / Red Sox World Champions!!!!” We commend Slattery not…
George Chigas’ Review of On Earth Beneath Sky by Chath pierSath In the aftermath of genocide, survivors undergo a lifelong process of healing in an attempt to make sense of the traumatic events that ruptured their lives. They strive to come to a new understanding of themselves and the…
Award winning poet Grace Wells has brought her considerable poetic sensibility to bear on her latest creative work, in which she uses poetic video in a manner that both deepens our awareness of what we might lose and have lost, and also lends her voice to the urgency of the…