On the River

Bringing Poetry to The People One of Cambridge¿s first Poet Populist, Peter Payack¿s initiatives was to create a poem, by the people of Cambridge. The idea was to let the many voices of Cambridge write a poem about their city. This volume includes poems by octogenarians, third graders, college presidents (Roger Brown, Berklee College of Music), and professors (Bobo Reichenbach/Harvard, Ifyani Menkitti/Wellesley, Walter Lewin/MIT, Susan Jhirad/NSCCC), city workers, Pulitzer Prize...
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Bringing Poetry to The People One of Cambridge¿s first Poet Populist, Peter Payack¿s initiatives was to create a poem, by the people of Cambridge. The idea was to let the many voices of Cambridge write a poem about their city. This volume includes poems by octogenarians, third graders, college presidents (Roger Brown, Berklee College of Music), and professors (Bobo Reichenbach/Harvard, Ifyani Menkitti/Wellesley, Walter Lewin/MIT, Susan Jhirad/NSCCC), city workers, Pulitzer Prize winners (Lloyd Schwartz), elected officials, Grammy Award winners (Prince Charles Alexander), teachers, All-Americans, All-State athletes and a five-time NFL Pro Bowler (Fred Smerlas), comedians (Jimmy Tingle), street performers, carpenters, Publishers (Roland Pease/Zoland Poetry, Doug Holder/Ibbetson St. Press), scientists (Steve Lippard), researchers (Beth Sommers), lawyers, actors, doctors, artists (Clara Wainwright), sky artists (Lowry Burges, Elizabeth Goldring), nurses, coaches, rock stars (David McWane/Big Dig & The Kids Table), bicycle mechanics, marathoners, Poet Laureates (Former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish), firefighters, peace activist and WWII veteran (Janet C. Re¿), pharmacists, and even poets, (Gail Mazur, David Ferry, Diana Der-Hovanessian, Mark Pawlak, Kathleen Spivack,) if you can imagine that! This poem, has a symphony of voices. I tried to give artistic freedom to each writer and so did very little stylistic editing. Over sixty years ago, Jack Kerouac set off On The Road to experience the rich variety of people across America. Today, you can encounter a fascinating array of humanity On The River, without leaving the borders of Cambridge. Please note: This is a living document, Cantabrigians can send poems that will be added once every season As an additional hometown flavor, The Cambridge Community Poem is published at the Harvard Bookstore on its Paige M. Gutenborg on-demand press!