Happy solstice, a somewhat forgotten mark of time and the movement of the planets. In the northern hemisphere, today is the shortest day of the year and the longest night; it is also the first day of winter. No one seems to want to celebrate that as much as we like to acknowledge the first […]
A couple of weeks ago, in church, our minister got up to preach his sermon and, before he began and without a word, he stepped down from the pulpit and began to distribute something. It looked like he was peeling bills off a roll of cash. We in the choir were served last and discovered […]
The first snow appeared on Mt. Monadnock this morning, the dark profile arching white in the morning’s new light. Rain pelted the windows down here all night long with a thunderous, roaring wind that set one of the shutters loose. But no snow, not even temperatures below freezing. In the old iron kettle on the […]
I’m burning ice storm wood now. After the big storm and after the snow and ice of last winter had melted, the trees at the edge of the north field remained, bent, broken. Their high tops bowed down, their crowns touching the earth, surrendered to the ice. The warming sun of the new season could […]
It’s been calm here this week, unusually mild for November. Temperatures have been in the 50s, skies are a light blue, the sunlight pale and weak on the bare trees, bare ground. This exposure is fleeting. It will be covered soon. But there has been a peaceful feeling all around, a sharp contrast to the […]
All of the following poems can be found in Paul Marion’s What is the City?, copies of which may be purchased from Loom Press. Merrimack Street The place yours for once, or again, you walk down Merrimack, past Jordan’s minimalist window dressing, one black torso filling a yellow sweater, and the CVS, door open, scent […]
Photographer Paul Wainwright has been recording New England meetinghouses with large-format black-and-white photography since 2004, capturing their dual functions of church and town hall — and preserving the sense of history within their spaces. His book, A Space For Faith: The Colonial Meetinghouses of New England, is scheduled for release by Peter E. Randall Publisher […]
This past Sunday I was slated to do a program in Kennebunkport with my friend, the author Carolyn Chute. Carolyn doesn’t drive so I was going to go pick her up which meant I was basically going to drive three sides of a triangle, from my home to Parsonsfield, Maine, down to Kennebunkport, and then […]
I went to the opera on Saturday afternoon. The Met. Verdi’s Aida. Around noon, I put on a pair of slacks and a sweater, gave the dogs a cookie and left the house. I turned left out of my driveway, headed down a paved road which soon turned to dirt. I was on my way. […]
Here was my week: Monday When I got home in the afternoon, I found Mayday, my 13-year-old mini-schnauzer, sitting in the corner, staring at the floor and trembling. When I picked her up, she felt hot. A few months ago she had been in hospital for a week with a high fever. The cause was […]
In November 2007, residents of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, overwhelmingly voted for change when they elected Lisa Wong, a 28-year political novice and the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as their mayor. In Wong, Fitchburg, a once thriving manufacturing city whose biggest exports these days are its jobs, gets a leader who matches an expertise in economic development […]
To respond, click on the link below. You will come to our Feedback page. Step 1. Fill in “Pairings” as the subject. Step 2. Fill in your name and e-mail address. Step 3. Type your answer in the box. Please include your city and state with your answer. Good luck! The clues: First:In Bangor, Paul […]
