Best Newport Poems

Newport Folk Festival 1965.

 Behind the mirror is where we all
Tend to lurk,
Suffering through the pain of glass.

No one likes change,
Sometimes it is almost viewed as a sin.
Then you are punished
For attaining a higher majesty,
An alliance nearly gone.

But the times they were a changing
Folk had...

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newport, ohio
two bars for the thirsty
one catholic church 
for the sinners to be forgiven
one gas station
so us country folk
don't run out of gas
one big country concert
in july up the road
one 75 year old man
who runs  a quiet 
slaughter house
a quaint little town
on a busy...

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City lights sparkling,
mirrored in the Bay,
multi-colored jewels— 
amber, rose, and green,
crystal, diamond-white—
gracing bridge and buildings—
mansions, pubs, and shops—
fanciful reflections of
countless points of intrigue.
Neurons, lives entwining—
schemes, ideas, and passions—
complex as a motherboard,
vibrant as a heartbeat,
fertile and entrancing,
as though fashioned by a
cosmic magician’s spell....

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1956 Newport to Bermuda Race

In June, 89 sailboats at midday
Left Newport and Narragansett Bay.

We're on the way in a 635 mile race
To Bermuda - a beautiful place.

Light winds on the first day out
Even sighted a large whale spout.

Next morning at day light
No other boats in...

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1673 Newport Murder Trial

One of my great grandfathers in my family tree
Was accused of murder in 1673.

His name was Thomas Cornell 
And they said he killed his mother Rebecca and sent her to hell.

She was found dead near the fireplace on her bedroom floor
While Thomas...

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Newport 1965
(Or Dylan Goes Electric)

This was the dream concert
folk was at its peak
Pete Seeger, Joan Baez,
Odetta, Peter, Paul and Mary
Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash,
Gordon Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia
But the prize, the dream was
to see Dylan play Blowin’ In the Wind
acoustically.
The folkie purists were shocked,
the dream had...

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The Bermuda Race


Don't sail the Rum Line lads

To that beautiful isle is quite bad.

600 miles heading just South South East

Is not the way to tame the beast.

A straight course sailors say:

"You can't win that way."

Newport to "The Onion Patch" the saying goes

Is a milk run...

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Jack-y
Jack-y
Ohhhh Ms Jacky 
how you court your life’s only lover
Huff and puff and contort, the smoke of your
Newfound Newport 
(Long not short)
Lazily lacking worldly desires

If I had your sense of humour
Maybe I'd too sling new places
With every shot of tobacco, being
Flung into faraway lands, filled...

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