I decided to sit down and write a brief annotation to THE MORGANTOWN SUITE POEMS so that people would know what it about what:
Hollow Shells:
This piece was written in 2002, as I walked down the streets of Morgantown, noting the number of vacant storefronts and places where old, favourite businesses were no more.
The Spot Where She Died:
This was written when I visited the site where my brother’s fiance, Carol, died in a traffic accident in 1973. She was a classmate of mine at Morgantown High School and died just weeks before her graduation and their scheduled wedding. They were on their way to pre-marital counseling at my church when it happened.
I Will Walk These Streets, Again:
I wrote this one just before my visit in 2002 for the “Love Gods…” tour.
Street of bricks:
There’s a couple of streets near South High Street that are made of bricks, I have been told they were built by workers with the WPA, back during the Great Depression. In time they have warped so badly it is tough to drive at anything more than a crawl on them.
Krepps Park, After Dark:
My first real make-out session was at Krepps Park, walking back from my girlfriend’s house during a church picnic.
Five a.m. and a bag full of words:
I was a paperboy on Wiles Hill for several years. The morning paper. No matter the weather, no matter what else. My brother and I split a large route and he took the area around Wiles Hill Elementary, I had Willowdale Road out to Country Club Apartments.
The Tribe + 35:
There was a head shop at the base of Stewart Street, the Tribe. My friend Alan worked there and I could’ve had a job there, but my Mom was convinced it would corrupt me (or someone would spike my soda with LSD). I loved the smell of the place, the sounds of the place and the loud images. Now it is just another faceless Sunnyside Bar.
Faded Prom Queens: You see them, women who once were young and beautiful, now beat down by life. A caged-animal countenance, a sadness, a despair.
Interlude at the Zen Clay Tea Garden:
There’s a café on University Avenue, the Zen Clay (actually a pottery shop and café) and their upper room is the tea garden. Maybe I’ve had lunch there with one or more women. Maybe I haven’t.
For C.:
One of those girls in high school who is so perfect you stop viewing her as even a person. I met her several years later and we actually shared a conversation, and I was dumbfounded to realize I had never given her credit for being a human being, and a pretty sweet one at that.
Matthew 10:14:
This largely reflects how I felt, at one time, over the indifference that my hometown shows me at times. I understand the relationship a lot better now. But it is bizarre to note I am better known in many foreign cities than where I grew up. A few months ago, when I announced my release of three books in 2005, over 500 media outlets picked up the story. None of them in Morgantown.
Morgantown Junior High School:
It was a grand building on Spruce Street, now torn down and replaced by a parking garage and city offices.
Sunnyside Revels:
Sunnyside, although less now than at one time, is the bar district of Morgantown, where WVU students used to congregate and get drunk in such numbers the city finally had to pass a ban on open alcohol containers. After successful WVU football games, often the site of rowdy crowds, which sometimes engage in destructive behaviours.
Fourth and Dirt Clod:
We’d play where we could, although our favoured venue was old Mountaineer Field. Three times a year, at least: The Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving Day, the Pneumonia Bowl of Christmas Day and the Double-Pneumonia Bowl on New Years Day. Sometimes tackle, sometimes two-hand touch.
First Date Blues:
All true stories of my early romantic life.
Danielle:
When I was in town on tour in 2002, there was this remarkable server at the Blue Moose Café who engaged in sharp repartee with the guys there for morning coffee. Very attractive and alive, and she made an impression on me enough to write about her.
The alley down on Locust Street:
My Grandma Hickman lived in an apartment on Locust Street, back when she still worked as the domestic for the J.W. Ruby’s. We’d come in and visit with her and my other relatives, and we’d play hide and go seek with the neighborhood kids…the alley beside her building was so narrow that I was the only one who could fit in it…and I’d use it to stage my disappearing act.
Ballistic Arc:
I was always the guy who’d never do anything crazy. Until Dave McCoy said he didn’t think I’d jump into Cheat Lake, fully clothed. About halfway down, I realized it was not the smartest thing I’d ever done.
The Taking of Vows:
She knows what I’m talking about.
Fresh Peaches in Uncle Earl’s Trees:
My Uncle Earl had cherry and peach trees in his front yard…and I used to love to eat them, hot from the afternoon sun.
Making Out at the Blue Horizon:
The Blue Horizon was one of the better "passion pits" in the area, and far enough out of town you might not get caught by a neighbor. Mrs. Watts, my 10th grade bio teacher, didn't seem thrilled with having to teach the mandatory section on sex education.
The Face on Page 1B:
A guy I knew in junior high drowned on vacation, before High School. It was shocking for someone that young and vital to die.
Woodburn Circle, barefoot:
This occurred just minutes before the photo that became the cover of this book was taken. I had met up with my girlfriend on campus, after class, and she talked me into taking off my shoes and walking barefoot in the grass while we visited in Woodburn Circle on the WVU Campus.
Musing in the Shadows of the Seasons:
Late autumn, glad for the season, but contemplating the coming spring.
Recalling Yesterday:
A generic meander regarding memories
332 S. High Street:
A reflection on a place where I spent many thoughtful hours in love with my first real girlfriend.
Home Room 113:
My homeroom at Morgantown High School.
Charlotte’s Song:
A friend of mine was getting married and asked me to write something for the ceremony.
Arachne and red lace:
A woman I should not have gone near with a ten-foot pole. But by the time I learned that…the damage was done.
Yesterdays:
I wrote this tom my first wife, when we were dating, as I sat on my porch in Sunnyside.
Yesterdays Revisited:
This was a sequel to “Yesterdays” and was written at the same time as it was.
Autumnal Memory:
Every girl I ever brought home just loved my Dad. He’s still around and strong at 82.
Funeral home:
A childhood friend of mine died in a car accident when she was, I believe, 13. I wrote this while contemplating her loss and the effect it had on those who mourned her, each in their own way.
Penance:
I made a lot of mistakes as a young man. I hope I have repaid the universe for them.
Melissa, a remembrance:
Melissa was a friend from church who was a few years behind me in school. Pretty and a bit on the wild side…she was in an accident and broke her back when she was still quite young and, although she confounded the doctors by learning to walk again, it took a lot from her spirit. She passed away a few months ago.
Hanging with the guys:
Me and some guys would get to American Studies class early after lunch so we could hang out the window that overlooked the walk from the cafeteria and demonstrate our tastes in women. I heard some great lines, learned some double entendres I still borrow to this day.
Echoes of a Laugh (for Dave Dlugos):
Dave and I went to Morgantown High together. He was a remarkable fellow, with a great sense of humour and a good heart. He passed away unexpectedly, just before our thirtieth reunion.
Sonnet: a vintage passion:
She knows.
Vacation Bible School Memories:
I worked Vacation Bible School for Calvary Baptist a few summers. It was fun and the kids were great.
Getting the Beat on Pleasant Street:
On the 2002 tour, I had one booking at 123 Pleasant Street, a local music hangout. While I read poetry in the bar, there was a local band trying to form in the next room.
Tired hands at the keyboard:
I briefly took piano lessons from Mr. Federer, who lived at the old Hotel Morgan and charged $2.00 a lesson. He had the patience of Job, as I had and have no musical talent.
Falling Run:
Think you’re tough? Walk up Falling Run Road. Once. I did it every day for months, while in High School. Probably why I was so skinny back then.
Blackberry Season:
My Great Aunty Monty had an old farm just about completely overrun with blackberry vines. We’d go out there every year and pick gallons of them, all as big as your thumb.
The Mighty Mohigan Marching Kazoo Band:
We were about 40-50 strong, and we performed at a couple of high school “thuses” and even marched in a parade. We had one formation…a square, and we had Doug, who could twirl a flaming baton, as our leader.
PK:
Ever hear the one about the preacher’s kid? I did.
Fireflies rising:
Fireflies are still magic to me.
Cruising after the Game:
After Morgantown High football games, we’d cruise around, with a designated “caller” yelling out the passenger side window. Nothing truly rude or offensive, just letting off some steam.
Where lays memory:
Morgantown is where memory lays, for me.
Ten fingers, ten toes (June 9, 1981):
Celebrating the birth of my daughter, Perelandra (Peri) at WVU Hospital. Thank you, Jan.
Local Talent:
There was this girl I heard sing a few different places, but I never caught (or always forgot) her name. Talented, but still local and still trying to get over the hump that separates local and regional musicians from the big time.
So, there you have it. No confusion, you know who you are and what I'm talking about. I have some other poems about the town I didn't use for various reasons. Thanks again to Arts Monongahela for making this book possible. Check them out at Arts Monongahela...order my new book at City of Legends Bookstore .
. Both are Jillian Ann, that remarkable young woman from Nerw York who has been so supportive of this project and has added a much needed visual slant to this project with her professionalism and beauty. I can think of one other model I might have preferred using, but she has evaporated.
...it will be a good lead in to a discussion of the evolution of the cover of TCPC.