Provincetown Public Library Blog

January 22, 2021Photo by Mark Truman SunriseA Poem by Mark Truman Standing in the cold darknessWaiting aloneLike so many mornings beforeHands thrust deep into pocketsStinging breezeBringing the scent of salt and seaweedSound of waves caressing the shoreFirst tinges of...

Photograph loaned to the Provincetown History Project by Helen Valentine, a resident of Provincetown.

January 15, 2021Photo by Stephen Borkowski Curious ConsiderationsA Poem by Marylou Mansfield Day breaks on a rain soaked day.Wind begins to fluster treetops.The fury of it allremains at bay,promising to consumesoon enough. Mind and bodymove in slow...

Undated photograph of Fritz Bultman in his studio.

January 8, 2021Photo by Jamie Demetriou A Poem by Jamie Demetriou And it is at the time of nightshade thatI am truly alone with my thoughtsAnd in my thoughts are always ofconnection, then gratitude followsHere in this place I have been shown actsof kindness,...

Undated picture of ice flows near Captain Jack's wharf 

January 1, 2021Photo by Krasimira Banova CharacterA Poem by Rob Taylor Each pond, with its place in the woods,                holds distinct layout and character,                where especially in winter,                with no one visible,                a unique...

Black & white photograph of Provincetown Harbor believed to be taken in the late 19th or early 20th century.

December 25, 2020Photo by Karen Elliot HolidaysA Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The holiest of all holidays are those    Kept by ourselves in silence and apart;    The secret anniversaries of the heart,    When the full river of feeling overflows;—The happy days...

Black and white photo of a 1958 winter view of the center of town Commercial Street looking east showing people, cars and building fronts; The Seamen's Bank Building on the left at the intersection of Ryder Street and Commercial Street and the steeple of the Center...

December 18, 2020Photo by James Cornell Christmas CactusA Poem by James Cornell Our Christmas CactusBurst into bloom todayThree days before ThanksgivingIt has always likedTo strut its stuffA full month beforeIts naming dayThis hardy plantNearly a decade oldLoves to...

1930 postcard featuring the "new State road" through the dunes to the tip of Cape Cod.

December 11, 2020Photo by Clayton Nottleman Adjusting to the LightA Poem by Tim Bosworth I like to watch movies, That I’ve never seen nor heard of before.I saw one today, in it was readA poem about the dark.About adjusting your eyes to it.And what you see after you...

A photo of the frozen pans of fish inside Provincetown's Consolidated Cold Storage plant in 1920.

December 4, 2020Photo by Krasimira Banova The GiftA Poem by Hilde Oleson In my hand I hold the world. I hold my hopes, my conquered fears, my dreams. Safely ensconced in a plastic bag, lying still, shining bright The tiniest of shells Are refugees from a turbulent...

Ice in Provincetown Harbor in 1918.

November 27, 2020Photo by Karen Elliot TimeA Poem by Mark S. Peel It used to be slowly.You never thought of its speed because of how busy You were except at holidays or when on vacation.  Important dates seemed properly separated, Normally distant year to yearAs...

Photo from 1944 showing all that remains of the Cape Cod Oil Works with the Pilgrim Monument in the distance.

November 20, 2020 Photo by Stephen Borkowski BENEATHA Poem by Marylou Mansfield Somedays─      Somedays─ I wander the soundless,darkenedcatacombsstretched beneathmy senses,my realities,my dreamslike one pursuedby unknown entities,ghostly shadowsof what could...

A photo, circa 1930, showing the Commercial St. side of Annie Boxell's (the mother of Althea Boxell, who amassed a large amount of scrapbooks) house, later the MacMillan house which was once used as a barracks for soldiers on Long Point.

November 13, 2020 Photo by Christine Steckel MomentA Poem by Christine Steckel November’s greatcoatFlung across seawall and sandAs covered boats strainAgainst their taut tethered linesAnd gulls on the updraft ride To submit your own photo or poem, email Assistant...

Black and white photo of store front appears to be on the harbor side of Commercial Street, heavily decorated with patriotic bunting. c. 1890

November 6, 2020 Photo by Jane Weismann I love languageA Poem by Tim Bosworth I love languageJust 26 little letters   bring the world to me.  Its metaphors transport me.Its adjectives describe everything.Its stresses hold me.Its similes liken me.Its verbs move...

The Battleship Vermont in Provincetown Harbor in 1930.

October 30, 2020Photo by Sandra Delzotti A Poem by Edgar Allan Poe and Skip Parker Late at night dark and drearyLying awake weak and wearyThere came a knocking at my door‘Twas only Julie from Baltimore   To submit your own photo or poem, email Assistant Library...

Horses on the Peaked Hill dunes 1977