Everett Hoagland (1943-2025)

Remembering Everett Hoagland (1943–2025)

Everett Hoagland was a friend of the Gloucester Writers Center and a poet whose work and life left a lasting impact on those who knew him. He passed away on July 5, 2025, at the age of 82.

A longtime professor at UMass Dartmouth, Everett was the first poet laureate of New Bedford, serving from 1994 to 1998. Like Vincent Ferrini, he was a moral voice for his adopted city—deeply committed to justice, truth, and poetry’s power to speak for the unheard.

His friend, the poet Martín Espada, wrote: “He was a poet of great presence, a fierce believer in social justice.”

Everett's love for New Bedford and its diverse, working-class communities resonated in his writing. In one poem, he captures the city’s essence and its inclusive spirit:

This city of all humankind’s faces shows there is only one race:

The Human race. A fact more important than blood-inked scripture, rusty harpoons, carved whale bones, cotton, looms, dry dye vats, tools, tires, fish count, shell size, rope works or game balls.

Everett Hoagland’s voice will be missed, but his words remain—a legacy of conscience, compassion, and clarity.

Everett Hoagland stands next to a portrait of himself in his younger years. The portrait is on display at The New Bedford Free Public Library. Credit: Jack Spillane / The New Bedford Light

Ongoing Porter Street Mural Project:

Hot and rainy days have delayed Tricia O’Neill’s progress on the new mural, but we hope to have it completed very soon. Keep an eye out for Charles Olson—soon to be joining his longtime friend Vincent Ferrini on Porter Street. Special thanks to Tom Lance and the Brass Monkey for his longtime support!