Word
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1913
On the Cusp of WWI Tragedy Struck for the Nugent Family
By: - Jul 09th, 2015In 1913 the European avant-garde was shown in the Armory Show in New York. In Paterson New Jersey the IWW led a strike. The world braced for war. In one terrible year Mary Nugent of Rockport lost two sons and a daughter.
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Beaver Dam Farm
Nugent Homestead 1875 to 1927
By: - Jul 08th, 2015In 1658 on 32 acres of land James Babson built a stone building now the oldest in Rockport. It is all that survives of the once extensive Beaver Dam Farm which my ancestors, the Nugents, leased from 1875 to 1927. Patrick died at 50 in 1900 and Mary raised their family of 13 and managed the farm until her death in 1927. Their son George moved up the street and became the owner of the largest expanse of land on Cape Ann including initially all of Good Harbor Beach.
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Patrick Nugent
Scoundrel and Patriach of an American Clan
By: - Jul 08th, 2015Dead at 50 Patrick Nugent of Rockport left his wife Mary with 13 children. As well as one more on the side with her sister.
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Ancestors
The Nugents of Rockport
By: - Jul 07th, 2015Ancestors is the first of a suite of poems The Nugents of Rockport. Born within a year of each other, 1850 and 1851, Patrick and Mary wed in 1875 and soon settled in Rockport. Soon after marriage Charles, the first of 13, was born. Initially, they leased land then in the 1920s, George, the heir to Beaver Dam Farm brought property down the road. He became the largest and richest land owner and the political whip of Cape Ann.
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Bris
Goy Mohels of Brookline
By: - Jul 05th, 2015On a warm spring Sunday in Brookline, after church, the parents brought their infant to be brissed by my goy parents.
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Around the Cape
Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester
By: - Jul 05th, 2015Broad Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester is where families bathe by the sea enjoying the flavors and linguistic textures of summer.
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Miles
Keith or Chick
By: - Jul 04th, 2015Miles on tour after Bitches Brew saw him at Harvard Stadium then later in the week Lennie's on the Turnpike. That night the band included Jack DeJohnette, drums, Michael Henderson, bass, Gary Bartz, horns, Fender pianos Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. John McLaughlin sat in on guitar. Back stage Miles asked me to help him make a difficult decision.
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Charity
Helping the Homeless
By: - Jul 04th, 2015The homeless hag hit on me for something to eat. That was cool but she pulled a fast one.
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Kirkland Road 1939-1989
The Long Version
By: - Jun 30th, 2015The first poem published by Melissa for Berkshire Fine Arts was Kirkland Road. This is a revised and longer version while the original is also archived on this site.
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Cove Chatter
The Ice Bucket Challenge
By: - Jun 30th, 2015The Ice Bucket Challenge, sometimes called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and encourage donations to research. It went viral on social media during July–August 2014.
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Garden of Eden
Advice from Nano
By: - Jun 25th, 2015There is Irish and Sicilian blood on both sides of my heritage. That means a dirt under the fingernails urge to make things grow. But my grandfather Nano had sound advice for the first garden.
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Nudie's of Hollywood
Gonzo Rhinestone Cowboy
By: - Jun 24th, 2015The orange suit with bolero jacket and rhinestone designs was made for a one hit wonder who never picked it up. Since it was a perfect fit Nudie, the designer of the stars, made me an offer I could not refuse. Wearing it always resulted in total gonzo adventures.
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Kerouac
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Null
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Tarzan
Swingers in the Berkshires
By: - Jun 22nd, 2015A reunion this summer in the Berkshire church that Ray and Alice made famous. This time though I won't be swinging on the rope. Planning to keep both feet on the ground.
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Hook
Abstract Art
By: - Jun 22nd, 2015Cracking the code of complex concepts for most people it helps to have a humanizing hook. What is the anecdote and eureka moment that allows us to connect with daunting aesthetics and technologies? It is the sizzle which enhances the flavor of the steak.
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Courthouse
Failed Escape
By: - Jun 20th, 2015Reflections on the steps of the courthouse in October.
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Cancer
Panic Attack
By: - Jun 20th, 2015My mom, Dr. Flynn, had an instant cure for cancer of the elbows.
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Son of a Beach
Screw Skull and Bones
By: - Jun 19th, 2015Time was when parents bragged about their kids getting into Ivy League Schools then on to law, medicine or an MBA. Not anymore.
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Hosta la Vista Baby
Morning Manta
By: - Jun 17th, 2015Never met a hosta I didn't like; the vinyl siding of landscape gardening. We have a number of varieties. Each spring some of them split to start new ones. Circles around trees and dramatic accents in flower beds. My favorite is viewed each morning over coffee from our dining room window. Last year critters got to it and ruined my summer meditations.
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Under the Apple Tree
Backyard Wedding in East Boston
By: - Jun 17th, 2015We hired our neighbor Ritchie, a chef, to prepare food for our backyard East Boston wedding. The inept students I hired never bothered to turn on the oven. They were too busy being guests. So we served the backup lasagna I made that morning. Then I got dissed by my best man and sister. It was quite the occasion.
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Fireworks
First Kiss Fourth of July
By: - Jun 17th, 2015Circling each other in the art world connected at CAVS event. Came late to my holiday party new house in East Boston. First date and kiss that week. Fireworks then and ever since.
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June
From Town to Country
By: - Jun 17th, 2015Migrant workers. The annual move from loft in North Adams to house in Adams. Summer and winter just minutes from each other. Odd to some makes perfect sense. Seasonal chores of planting flower and vegetable beds. Hopes of harvest and bouquets in the house. Glorious life in the bucolic Berkshires.
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Hippy
Stranger Than Fiction
By: - Jun 15th, 2015Old men in the waiting room comparing aches and pains. First thing in the morning appointment for cortisone shot. Checking e mail. Note from a colleague updated on postponed hip replacements.
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Reading Therapy
Notes from a Convalescent
By: - Jun 12th, 2015The North Adams based poet Stephen Rifkin, with his wife Wilma, is participating in "Two Natures Talking: Poetry and Visual Arts " at MCLA Gallery 51. The other participants are Ellen Joffe-Halpern and Annie Raskin. On Sunday, June 14 there will be a reading in the gallery. Because he is recovering from an automobile accident and mangled foot Wilma will read his poems. Like Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock's Rear Window Rifkin is keeping busy with an eye on other writers.
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