Provincetown Public Library Blog

November 15, 2019Photo by Jason Brown An Autumn ReverieA Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) Through all the weary, hot midsummer time,My heart has struggled with its awful grief.And I have waited for these autumn days,Thinking the cooling winds would bring...

The United States Rum Chaser "Morrill" high and dry opposite Law Street in the Storm of November 16, 1926.

November 8, 2019Photo by Linda Simon SocksA Poem by Mark S. Peel Why is it that the last place you can’t get any two things right is a place where there are only things black and white? I don’t mean to complain without just cause; I seek no lofty goals. I just want...

A map of Provincetown's boundaries from November 1893

November 1, 2019Photo by Chris Hottle PtownA Poem by Hilde Oleson This is a town that has always  goneAll Out.In the 1850’s one wharf was built.Observation proved it to beA great idea.So 57 more were built in the next two yearsAnd proved to be successfulThis town has...

"The Romance of Tom and Tabby." Found tucked in a nondescript ledger dated 1894, these newspaper clippings where too cute to pass up.  While the ledger itself contained nothing but unknown numerical listings, these newsprint photos survived.  The newspaper they came...

October 25, 2019Photo by Jim Cornell Destination: Peace on EarthA Poem by Linda Ohlson Graham There could be someone On the bow of our boat … Our boat is our Planet : Earth. The landfall that is being pursued: Peace. Planet Earth appears to be going thru Hell. War …...

Aerial view of the wreck of the Margaret Rose, a Gloucester fishing vessel that grounded on the shoals off Wood End.

October 18, 2019Photo by Sue Clark Full Hunter MoonA Poem by Jan Kelly A lone tree cricketChirps me to sleepThe night of the full Hunter MoonWhose light will wake meWhen it balances over meOn its arc of descension   To submit your own photo or poem, email Assistant...

A John R. Smith photo of Wood End Light in 1910.

October 11, 2019Photo by Barbara Klipper Staying AfloatA Poem by Barbara Klipper With sails furled, oars stowed,Or massive engines stalled while heavy anchors rest silent beneath the swell,The boats and ships sit proud in the bay.Row boat bobbing gently,Cruise ship...

A 1955 view of Hilliard's Wharf.

October 4, 2019Photo by Sandra Delzotti Strolling UnicornA Poem by Katharyn Howd Machan takes their sweet time along Commercialpretending that if they wanted to flythey could turn themselves into a seabird and soarover The Mews and Café Heavenand maybe land on the...

Hilliard's Wharf with Higgins Lumber Co. building on it in 1962.  Center Methodist Church (now the Provincetown Public Library) in the background.  From the scrapbooks of Althea Boxwell.

September 27, 2019Photo by Amy Raff A Poem by Donna Pilkington Tumble seaweed blowing across the sands on this first fall day.Seaweed puffballs rolling on and on by wind  whipping water, boughs,  and gulls on high carried by the flow from  summer to fall.Nature...

A photo of Race Point Light in 1965.

September 20, 2019Photo by Jamie Demetriou A Poem by Jamie Demetriou Another dawn Another low tide Another day of lobstering Yet today is different It's crisper Less noisy There is ease in my daily maneuvers The side streets giveaway to a garden overlooking the harbor...

A picture of a Coast Guard line shooting drill. 1938.

September 13, 2019Photo by Eileen Kennedy Song of the Paddlers [excerpt]A Poem by Herman Melville Dip, dip, in the brine our paddles dip, Dip, dip, the fins of our swimming ship! How the waters part, As on we dart; Our sharp prows fly, And curl on high, As the upright...

The Pilgrim Monument and the stand pipe from the dunes in 1975.

September 6, 2019Photo by Jan Kruse VirgoA Poem by Jack Wesdorp There’s the double-wanded one,quare subtle with electrons,felicitous with thought forms,ubiquitous as a horn.We are children of her womb,the cloth woven on her loom,the measure of her lament,she’s the...

Men unloading fish at the end of Sklaroff's Wharf in 1960. 

August 30, 2019Photo by Clayton Nottleman Herring Cove Beach: How It WasA Poem by Corinne Diana "Ranger, ranger," floats along the sandWhile bare-breasted womenReach for shirts and halter tops,Eyes on the mounted figureHigh above the sandgrass-covered dunes. Someone...

A 1955 view of the H.D. Hilliard Wharf (left) and Railroad Wharf (right) with Higgins Lumber Shed on the end of Hilliard's.

August 23, 2019Photo by Jason Brown A Poem by Hilde Oleson The cathedral of the forest welcomes me.The trees stand tall against the hillTrying to reach above their ken to frame the sky.A shadow fabricates a door through which we can approach.The silence broken only by...

A foggy photo of the schooner Hindu from the foot of Sklaroff's Wharf in 1951.

August 16, 2019Photo by Mary Alice Wells AgingA Poem by Hilde Oleson Indeed, I feel it coming.It slips in with each dawn,Lingers through the nights,Puts clinging fingers round my psyche.Today I am a day older than yesterday.In a few years I will be a century old,But...

A lookout, the Grand View Tower,at the highest point in Provincetown with a view of both the ocean and the bay in 1961.

August 9, 2019Photo by Jamie Demetriou  A Poem by Jamie Demetriou By this dune by this sacred seasoaring secretly my spirit flies releasing meheaven and heartrhythm of timewinds of changethe world is mine.   To submit your own photo or poem, email Assistant Library...