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Lady, whose shrine stands on the promontory,
Pray for all those who are in ships . . .
Also pray for those who were in ships, and
Ended their voyage on the sand, in the sea's lips
Or in the dark throat which will not reject them
Or wherever cannot reach them the sound of the sea bell's
Perpetual angelus.
TS Eliot, from “The Dry Salvages”
The Lily Jane
By Marco Ray
In the Edward Hopper painting, fishing boats lie still on the harbor
behind wharves where fishermen mend their nets and 1930s automobiles travel up and down Main Street. Edward Hopper painted what he saw, but also what he felt, which was a rhythm and a history of a place. On the hill, at the top of the church that overlooks the harbor, is a Lady with a vessel, and in that church, people have gathered all day. The Lady sees the boats leave and return, and when they don't, she grips tighter the ship that she holds, even as those beneath her in her pews grip one another's hands in the incense and silence. Twenty-five miles east, a hull lies on the floor of the sea among sand and rocks, and within the hull sleep the men who sank the day before. This is something Hopper couldn't see, but if he had, he would have felt something else, that would have been seen in the paint, the color and lines, but more importantly, the faces of the men, blurred in the Impressionism, but beatific in their repose.
We help people tell their own stories. Help us continue our mission.
Today, we are asking our community to help sustain all that we do—and to uphold our commitment that no one is turned away for lack of funds.
For the last four years, we have been blessed by the support of a major grant from a dear friend of the GWC. That grant ends this coming year. To ensure our future, we must make adjustments to live within our means, and we must widen the circle of friends who care about our mission.
Featured Above: Every year we award the Amiri Baraka Scholarship to a deserving Gloucester High School graduate. This year’s recipient, Andres Moya, is attending UMass Lowell, double majoring in Medicine and Psychology. Henry Ferrini (GWC Founder/Director), Andres Moya, Susan Pollack (Kanter Kalman Foundation), and Dick Lourie (GWC Poet/Educator). See More
View our latest FISH TALES — “MISBEHAVING”
Porter Street has a new poet!
The Charles Olson Mural is complete! 🎉 Look for a special signing event later this fall—we hope Tony Millionaire will join us in Gloucester to celebrate. We may even stage a reading right on the street!
A huge thanks to Tom Lance and the Brass Monkey, Winnie of the Pilot House, the Massachusetts Cultural Council for their generous support, and to Tricia O’Neill and Steve Brettler for bringing this tribute to our literary history to life.
