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Marie Harris

writer, poet, voice

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Marie Harris

La Gallera

March 17, 2016

The noise is everywhere. Like heat. Dozens of cocks crowing. The voices of scores of men shouting above the loud, scratchy, amplified voice of the announcer. Only the two cocks in the middle of the ring are silent as they circle and jab, neck feathers fanned, blood beginning to stain their heads and shoulders. Friday […]

Filed Under: Essays & Articles, Words in Progress Tagged With: boxing, cockfights, Essays, Puerto Rico, travel

Where We Live

March 10, 2016

Dear Sergio: The Great Blue Heron flew over the house shortly before dawn this morning with its raucous announcement: the others will be returning to the tall dead trees in the swamp to begin the spring refurbishing of the nests…large constructs of dead branches lined with fine twigs and green leaves. “Remote, inaccessible situations are […]

Filed Under: Words in Progress Tagged With: birds, Charter Weeks photographer, maple sugaring

Leaving

March 8, 2016

LEAVING Moving, slowly at first, a walk further than usual, earlier than before though not quite at dawn, a loose leash of daylilies at the ankle, then a night under Orion disappearing, each horizon a new mote in the eye. Moving along is how, looking back, I left.

Filed Under: Poetry, Words in Progress Tagged With: marriage, poetry

Maple Syrup

March 7, 2016

ACTUAL GRACE The earth is beaten into dull stuff. A smudge of sun rides under the bellying sky. Winter is finishing slowly, like sap over a wood fire. At Phil’s Restaurant, breakfast customers hash over the Town Report. We still have our say. We still sing our annual hymn of republic and objection. Now while […]

Filed Under: Words in Progress Tagged With: maple sugaring, maple syrup, poetry

The Quilt

March 7, 2016

THE QUILT   The auctioneer turns her. The men wait on a corn planter and a wooden box of assorted nails. She is offered from the porch of her own house. We pluck at her skirt. What is she to me? I am waiting for that box of nails. What is she to me? The […]

Filed Under: Words in Progress Tagged With: poetry

The End

March 4, 2016

  We talked as though we were strangers, side by side on the deck of a boat near Jeffrey’s Ledge on a summer Sunday; but the subject was familiar. We pulled in flashy mackerel, apricot squid, tossed them back. We hauled up dogfish; we caught the same ones over and over. They were heavy as […]

Filed Under: Poetry, Words in Progress Tagged With: marriage

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Words in progress

Alice James Books birds boxing catechism Catholic girlhood Charter Weeks photographer childhood Christmas cockfights Collaborations Corvette creches Essays family histories flash fiction Inaugural Poems lit zines love poetry maple sugaring maple syrup marriage New Hampshire poets NH Poet Laureate NH State Council on the Arts Niger poetry Portsmouth Poet Laureate Projects & Performances Public Art Projects Puerto Rico Sahara Sahel sandstorm Santas school programs seasonal peculiarities travel Valentine's Day

Recent Posts

  • Walking Song
  • NHPR Interview with Peter Biello
  • My Brother is Gone from Us
  • ‘Tis the Season: the sacred & the profane
  • Singer/Songwriters
  • My Brother’s Voice
  • Gold Star Mother
  • SENSEI, then

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A Poet for Your Bookshelf, Classroom, or Library

Avatar photoWelcome! Come on in and browse through my books of poetry, anthologies I’ve edited and in which my poems appear, and some essays and articles on subjects ranging from blue water sailing to New England farm stays to birding. You can also find photos of my collaborations with painters, sculptors, photographers and musicians. Listen to audio clips of a sampling of my voiceover work.

As a poet, I perform and teach at colleges & universities throughout the country, and in residencies in elementary and high schools, libraries, writers’ workshops and retreats, and senior centers. Read More…

Words in Progress

Walking Song

WALKING SONG …reminding herself that she was only an elderly woman who had got up too early in the morning and journeyed too far, that the despair creeping over her was merely her despair, her personal weakness, and that even if she got a sunstroke and went mad the rest of the world would go […]

My Brother is Gone from Us

Basil Harris (pictured with sister Anne, summer 2016) He died today. Farewell, sweet singer.

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