Songs of the Sea & Fo’castle

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The American Folk Experience

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

by ~Gordon Lightfoot (sung by Fitz) | The American Folk Experience

~Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
Then later that night when the ship’s bell rang
Could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
When the wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
‘Twas the witch of November come stealin’
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin’
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck
Saying, “Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya.”
[Former version:] At seven PM a main hatchway caved in
[Latter version:] At seven PM it grew dark, it was then
He said, “Fellas, it’s been good to know ya.”
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
If they’d put fifteen more miles behind her
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below, Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered

[Former version:] In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
[Latter version:] In a rustic old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral
The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early

If you have any more information to share about this song or helpful links, please post as a comment. Thanks for stopping by the site! ~John Fitz

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I am indebted to the many friends who share my love of traditional songs and to the many scholars whose works are too many to include here. I am also incredibly grateful to the collector’s curators and collators of Wikipedia, Mudcat.org, MainlyNorfolk.info, and TheContemplator.com for their wise, thorough and informative contributions to the study of folk music. 

I share their research on my site with humility, thanks, and gratitude. Please cite their work accordingly with your own research. If you have any research or sites you would like to share on this site, please post in the comment box.  Thanks!

Source: Wikipedia

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
Single by Gordon Lightfoot
from the album Summertime Dream
B-side"The House You Live In"
ReleasedAugust 1976
RecordedDecember 1975
StudioEastern Sound Studios, Toronto
Genre
[1]
Length
  • 6:30 (album version)
  • 5:57 (single edit)
LabelReprise
SongwriterGordon Lightfoot
Producers
Gordon Lightfoot singles chronology
"Rainy Day People"
(1975) 		"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
(1976) 		"Race Among the Ruins"
(1976)
Audio
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on YouTube

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a 1976 folk rock ballad written, composed, and performed by the Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot to memorialize the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.

Appearing originally on his 1976 album Summertime Dream, Lightfoot re-recorded the song in 1988 for the compilation album Gord's Gold, Vol. 2. "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was a hit for Lightfoot, reaching number 1 in his native Canada in the RPM chart. In the US, it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on the Cashbox Top 100.

Following Lightfoot's death, the song had a new peak in popularity that same year, reaching number twenty on the Billboard magazine's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in May 2023. In commemoration of Lightfoot's writing of the lyrics to the ballad, the Great Lakes Maritime Academy now follows the commemoration bell count of: "29 for the lives lost that day back in 1975 on Lake Superior, once for all lives lost at sea, and once for singer Gordon Lightfoot, who wrote the ballad of the ship’s sinking".[2]

Composition

The song chronicles the final voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald as it succumbed to an intense late-season storm and sank in Lake Superior with the loss of all 29 crewmen. Lightfoot drew inspiration from news reports he gathered in the immediate aftermath, particularly the article "The Cruelest Month" published in the November 24, 1975 issue of Newsweek.[3] Lightfoot could also draw upon his personal experience with recreational sailing on the Great Lakes.[4] Lightfoot himself considered this song to be his finest work.[5]

Recorded before the ship's wreckage had been studied, the song reflects some speculation about how the disaster transpired. In later interviews, Lightfoot recounted how he had agonized over possible inaccuracies while trying to pen the lyrics until his lead guitarist Terry Clements convinced him to do what Clements' favourite author Mark Twain would have advised: just tell a story.[6]

In March 2010, Lightfoot changed a line during live performances to reflect new findings about how the ship had foundered. The original words, "At 7 p.m. a main hatchway caved in; he said...", Lightfoot began singing as "At 7 p.m. it grew dark, it was then he said...." Lightfoot learned about the new findings when contacted for permission to use his song for a History Channel documentary that aired on March 31, 2010. Lightfoot stated that he did not intend to change the original copyrighted lyrics; instead, from then on, he simply sang the revised lyrics during live performances.[7] Lightfoot also changed the words "musty old hall" (referring to "the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral", in fact the Mariners' Church of Detroit) to "rustic old hall".[8]

SS Edmund Fitzgerald (1971)

Melody

The song follows 6
8 time with a straightforward arrangement described by Adam Perlmutter in Acoustic Guitar as "pretty simple—just five open shapes in the key of A major (sounding as B, due to a second-fret capo). Instead of an A chord (A C♯ E), there’s an Asus2, a type of suspended triad in which the third (C♯) is replaced with the second (B). Then there’s the G6/A, or a G6 chord (G B D E) with an A as the lowest note, used only in the intro/interlude section".[9] The melody for the song was later adapted by Bobby Sands for his song "Back Home in Derry". When asked about the similarity and why he did not pursue copyright infringement, Lightfoot said that the melody was "just an old Irish folk song; an old Irish dirge. I think I took it from that. It's all folk music and it's all out there for everyone to enjoy."[10]

Lyrics

The song narrates the final and difficult journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald through the storm and the frantic moments before the shipwreck. The seven stanzas of the song are written with eight lines each, with the first line of the first stanza reading: "The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down". The lyrics were strongly inspired by the article "The Cruelest Month", which appeared on 24 November 1975 in Newsweek magazine, which in addition to reporting the disaster also illustrated the legends of the Ojibwe Native Americans (termed "Chippewa" by white Europeans) on Lake Superior, which are in fact mentioned in the song. A recurring theme of the song is the violence of the bad weather in the late autumn season on the Great Lakes in November, which would ultimately lead to the catastrophe of the Fitzgerald. For example, one of the central laments in the lyrics of the song speaks of the nearness of safe harbor in the presence of imminent disaster, stating:

Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
if they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.

Lightfoot, unable to know exactly how the tragedy had unfolded, by his own admission took some artistic liberties in recounting the sequence of events, for example by describing a collapse of a hatchway prior to the wreck.[11] Over time Lightfoot made slight modifications to the lyrics as more information about the disaster became available.

During the following years the composer, who was surprised by the enormous success of the song, was open to rework the lyrics in light of new developments in the investigations into the disaster and the public's sensitivity.[11] Although he declared that he did not want to modify the original lyrics of the song officially, often during live performances Lightfoot varied some verses to "update" them or to meet the requests of the public and the families of the victims.[12] For example, in the original lyrics the church that commemorates the shipwreck is "a musty old hall"; after the complaints of a parishioner, Lightfoot changed the passage to "a rustic old hall". The song was written with no choruses, and no lyrical bridge or change of key; it was written without any lyrical intro or outro.

Production

The song was recorded in December 1975 at Eastern Sound,[13] a recording studio composed of two Victorian houses at 48 Yorkville Avenue in a then-hippie district of downtown Toronto. The studio was later demolished and replaced by a parking lot,[14] which has since been replaced with a garden, the Mist Garden.[15] Pee Wee Charles and Terry Clements came up with "the haunting guitar and steel riffs" during the evening session.[16] According to an article in The Toronto Star, the final version of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was indeed the first take of the song, and it was the first time Lightfoot and his band had ever played it together, and the album's recording engineer, Kenny Frieson, fortunately decided to record the performance down on tape because the band was playing the song through for the first time. The band rehearsed other attempts at recording it for two weeks afterward, but they were unable to capture the magic of that initial, unrehearsed performance, so the first take was used for the recording. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, bassist Rick Haynes recalled Lightfoot initially only thought "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" to be a short, unfinished song, but it was recorded when they had studio time left for the Summertime Dream album.[17][18]

Chart success

Lightfoot's single version hit number 1 in his native Canada (in the RPM national singles survey) on November 20, 1976, barely a year after the disaster.[19] In the United States, it reached number 1 in Cashbox and number 2 for two weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 (behind Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night"), making it Lightfoot's second-most successful single, behind only "Sundown". Overseas it was at best a minor hit, peaking at number 40 in the UK Singles Chart.[20]

Canadian indie rock band Rheostatics recorded a cover of the song for their album Melville in 1991,[32] and included the song in their concerts to promote their 2025 album The Great Lakes Suite, though not included in the album release itself. Another cover of the song was done by the Indianapolis hard rock musicians Simon Bar Sinister in 1997 for Sage records which includes a lead guitar rock solo after the end of the fourth stanza; in the closing verses of the song the cymbals are intoned in the background 29 times at half-second intervals to honor the 29 dead sailors lost at sea.[33] The Cantus vocal ensemble did a pensive cover of the song in 2006 accompanied by acoustic guitar, cello and fife.[34] In 2018 the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club recorded a live performance of the song featuring a baritone soloist and accompanied by two acoustic guitars, cello and piano.[35] In 2019, the Canadian rock group Headstones covered the song and released a single of their cover.[36] The American band Punch Brothers did a cover of the song in 2022 with a solo tenor voice accompanied by a mandolin, violin and acoustic guitar.[37] The song was covered in 2023 by the English folk group The Longest Johns with an associated music video.[38] The song was also covered in 2025 by the a cappella group Home Free with an associated music video.[39] American bluegrass artist Billy Strings performed a 12-minute cover of the song in August 2025 featuring a 3-minute extended instrumental introduction to the song played on acoustic guitar, and a second 4-minute acoustic guitar solo at the end of the fourth stanza.[40]

Although the lyrics of the song memorialize the 29 lives lost, since Lightfoot's death in 2023 the sinking has been commemorated with 31 rings of the memorial bell at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy: "29 for the lives lost that day back in 1975 on Lake Superior, once for all lives lost at sea, and once for singer Gordon Lightfoot, who wrote the ballad of the ship’s sinking."[2][41][42][43] Following the singer-songwriter's death, the song had a new peak in popularity that same year, reaching number twenty on the Billboard magazine's Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart in May 2023.

Personnel

Original version from 1976 on Summertime Dream (5 min, 58 sec):

The 1987 version released on the 1999 Songbook album updated the Personnel notes for the re-recorded version (6 min, 28 sec):

  • Drums, Percussion: Barry Keane
  • Synthesizer: Gene Martynec
  • Guitar, Vocals: Gordon Lightfoot
  • Producer: Gordon Lightfoot
  • Drums: Jim Gordon
  • Engineer: Ken Friesen
  • Mixing Engineer: Lee Herschberg
  • Producer: Lenny Waronker
  • Pedal Steel Guitar: Pee Wee Charles
  • Bass Guitar: Rick Haynes
  • Acoustic Guitar: Terry Clements
  • Electric Guitar: Terry Clements
  • Writer: Gordon Lightfoot

See also

References

  1. ^ Person, James (January 1, 1998). "Gordon Lightfoot". In Knopper, Steve (ed.). MusicHound Lounge: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. p. 294.
  2. ^ a b "Edmund Fitzgerald memorialized with 31 rings of its bell at Great Lakes Maritime Academy". 910News.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2024. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  3. ^ Jennings, Nicholas (2016). Lightfoot. Viking. p. 148. ISBN 9780735232556. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  4. ^ Weiss, William R. (1979). "This Goose Is Golden". Yachting. Archived from the original on March 30, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2025 – via Lightfoot.ca.
  5. ^ DeYoung, Bill (March 2, 2010). "If You Could Read His Mind: A Conversation with Folk Music Legend Gordon Lightfoot". Connect Savannah. Archived from the original on March 7, 2010.
  6. ^ Casey, Chris (November 10, 2000). "25 Years Later, Lightfoot Content with Popularity of Fitzgerald Ballad". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 31, 2023. [Clements] said Mark Twain would say, 'Tell a story'.
  7. ^ Stevenson, Jane (March 26, 2010). "Lightfoot Changes 'Edmund Fitzgerald' Lyric". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  8. ^ Balunda, George (November 2011). "Mariners' Church of Detroit". Hour Detroit. Retrieved April 20, 2011.
  9. ^ Perlmuter, Adam (September 22, 2023). "Learn to Play Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"". Acoustic Guitar. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
  10. ^ "Gordon Lightfoot & Bobby Sands | Bobby Sands Trust".
  11. ^ a b Heather Sparling, Disaster Songs as Intangible Memorials in Atlantic Canada, New York, Taylor & Francis, 2023, ISBN 978-1-032-11120-9.
  12. ^ Heather Sparling, Disaster Songs as Intangible Memorials in Atlantic Canada , New York, Taylor & Francis, 2023, ISBN 978-1-032-11120-9.
  13. ^ "Album Recording Notes". Lightfoot!. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  14. ^ "Recording Studios used in Toronto: Eastern Sound". Bruce Cockburn & Toronto: A Historical Tour. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  15. ^ "Yorkville Avenue Plaque Walk: Exploring Yorkville's rich history through heritage plaques". ArcGIS Story Maps. Maximum City. Retrieved November 23, 2025. The Mist or 'Rose' Garden in front of the Four Seasons Residences is the former site of the Eastern Sound Studio.
  16. ^ Charles, PeeWee (November 10, 2012). "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald....37 years ago today!!". The Steel Guitar Forum. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  17. ^ https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/no-chorus-no-problem-the-improbable-story-behind-gordon-lightfoots-beloved-hit-the-wreck-of/article_99885686-2a9d-4d04-b9c0-4f3e1ce437ac.html
  18. ^ https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2025/11/09/wreck-edmund-fitzgerald-gordon-lightfoot-anniversary/87125454007/
  19. ^ a b "Item Display. RPM". Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  20. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 50: 23 January 1977 - 29 January 1977". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  21. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  22. ^ "RPM Adult Contemporary - Volume 25, No. 26". Library and Archives Canada. July 17, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  23. ^ "RPM Country Singles - Volume 26, No. 6". Library and Archives Canada. July 17, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  24. ^ "Gordon Lightfoot Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  25. ^ "Gordon Lightfoot Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  26. ^ "Gordon Lightfoot Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  27. ^ "Cash Box Top Singles - 1976". Tropicalglen.com. December 20, 1963. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  28. ^ "Gordon Lightfoot Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  29. ^ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  30. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
  31. ^ "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1976; TOP 100 POP SINGLES (As published in the December 25, 1976, issue)". Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  32. ^ Rheostatics . Cover for "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald". 1991. [1]
  33. ^ Simon Bar Sinister. Cover for "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald". 1999. Sage Records. [2]
  34. ^ Cantus (vocal ensemble). Cover for "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald". 2006. [3]
  35. ^ University of Michigan Men's Glee Club. Cover for "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald". 2018. [4]
  36. ^ Headstones (band). Cover for "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald". 2019. [5]
  37. ^ "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Punch Brothers. 2022. Boston, Mass. [6]
  38. ^ "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The Longest Johns. February 2023. [7]
  39. ^ "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". Home Free. October 2025. [8]
  40. ^ Billy Strings. "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". August 2025
  41. ^ "Detroit Church Broadens Its Scope Marking Edmund Fitzgerald Anniversary". USA Today. Associated Press. November 13, 2006. Retrieved January 18, 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  42. ^ Bulanda, George (November 2010). "Great Mariner's Church Remembers Edmund Fitzgerald on 35th Anniversary of Sinking". Hour Detroit. ISSN 1098-9684. Archived from the original on November 6, 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  43. ^ Mackay, Hannah (May 2, 2023). "Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society Pays Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot". The Detroit News. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023.

Further reading

Rauch, Alan (June 2023). "'Fellas, it's Been Good to Know You': Gordon Lightfoot's Edmund Fitzgerald". The Newsletter of the Charlotte Folk Society. 28 (6): 4.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreck_of_the_Edmund_Fitzgerald

Source: Songfacts.com

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

  • This is a factual retelling of a shipwreck on Lake Superior in November 1975 that claimed the lives of 29 crew members. On November 10, 1975, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald broke in half and sunk in Lake Superior. The storm she was caught in reported winds from 35 to 52 knots, and waves anywhere from 10 to 35 feet high.

    She was loaded with 26,116 tons of taconite pellets at the Burlington Northern Railroad, Dock #1. Her destination was Zug Island on the Detroit River. There were 29 crew members who perished in the sinking.

  • In the US, this was held out of the #1 spot by Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s The Night.”
  • This was nominated for the Song of the Year Grammy, but it was beaten by Barry Manilow’s “I Write The Songs.” >>
  • Paul Gross hoped to use this tune for his episode of the TV show Due South, “Mountie on the Bounty.” He discreetly tried to secure the rights to use the song, but out of respect for the families who wished not to be reminded of the tragedy he didn’t pursue the option aggressively. He instead wrote the similarly themed song “32 down On The Robert MacKenzie.” >>
  • Ohio-based Great Lakes Brewery produces a beer called Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. >>
  • In 1970, baseball commissioner Bud Selig’s co-founding partner in the Brewers was fellow Milwaukee businessman Edmund B. Fitzgerald, a patron of Milwaukee arts and civic projects, and the son of a family that owned Great Lakes shipyards. In 1958, the freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald was named for Edmund B.’s father. Fitzgerald later became a professor at Vanderbilt University.

  • An initial investigation suggested that the crew was partly to blame for the disaster by not securing the ship’s hatches. Lightfoot’s song reflected the original findings in the verse, “…at 7 p.m. a main hatchway gave in.” However, in 2010 a Canadian documentary claimed to have proven the crew of the ship was not responsible for the tragedy. It concluded that there is little evidence that failure to secure the ship’s hatches caused the sinking.

    Lightfoot said he intended to change it to reflect the new findings. “I’m sincerely grateful to yap films and their program The Dive Detectives for putting together compelling evidence that the tragedy was not a result of crew error,” he said in a release. “This finally vindicates, and honors, not only all of the crew who lost their lives, but also the family members who survived them.”

  • Lightfoot recalled the story of the song during a Reddit AMA: “The Edmund Fitzgerald really seemed to go unnoticed at that time, anything I’d seen in the newspapers or magazines were very short, brief articles, and I felt I would like to expand upon the story of the sinking of the ship itself,” he said. “And it was quite an undertaking to do that, I went and bought all of the old newspapers, got everything in chronological order, and went ahead and did it because I already had a melody in my mind and it was from an old Irish dirge that I heard when I was about three and a half years old.”

    “I think it was one of the first pieces of music that registered to me as being a piece of music,” he continued. “That’s where the melody comes from, from an old Irish folk song.”

  • Lightfoot wrote the lyrics after coming up with the melody and chords. He recalled: “When the story came on television, that the Edmund had foundered in Lake Superior three hours earlier, it was right on the CBC here in Canada, I came into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and saw the news and I said ‘That’s my story to go with the melody and the chords.'”
  • In a 2015 interview with NPR’s Scott Simon, Gordon Lightfoot explained that the article he read in Newsweek about the tragedy was, “Short shrift for such a monumental event.” Lightfoot says the song came about when he discovered the newspaper writers kept misspelling the name of the ship, rendering it as “Edmond Fitzgerald” rather than “Edmund Fitzgerald.” Though he didn’t say whether or not the misspelling was deliberate, he was quoted as telling Scott, “That’s it! If they’re gonna spell the name wrong, I’ve got to get to the bottom of this!” >>
  • This is referenced in the Seinfeld episode “Andrea Doria,” when Elaine mistakenly believes Gordon Lightfoot was the name of the ship and Edmund Fitzgerald was the name of the singer. Jerry quips: “Yeah, and it was rammed by the Cat Stevens.”

Here is a cool video of the song with underwater footage…

Here is a history of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald…

 

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The Gift Unclaimed

by | February 27, 2018 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

I have an old lobster buoy Hanging dully from A wrought-iron basket hook— A rough cutaway Filled with suet, Clabbered in wire mesh. . I had imagined chickadees Squabbling with angry jays And occasional sparrows, finches— Maybe even cedar waxwings tired of scrounging...
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Last of the Boys

by | August 12, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Songs | 0 Comments

Come on over here
and I’ll buy the next round:
cold beer and some shooters
for the boys on the town;
Darby ain’t drinkin’
so let’s live it up
‘cause he’ll drive us all home
in his company truck

Jesus Christ, Jimmy,
man you say that you’re well;
I say we drive into Boston
and stir up some hell;
put a cap on the weekend,
a stitch in the night,
watch the Pats play on Sunday
and the welterweight fight.

That’s all she wrote boys,
there ain’t any more;
that’s why we’re standing here;
that’s what it’s for.
That’s why we all go on working all day
busting our ass for short pay:
~Hey…

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Raccoon Welcome

by | July 12, 2014 | Poetry, Raccoon | 0 Comments

Welcome
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Thanksgiving

by | July 30, 2014 | Poetry | 0 Comments

I am surprised sometimesby the suddenness of November:beauty abruptly shedto a common nakedness--grasses deadenedby hoarfrost,persistent memoriesof people I’ve lost.It is left to those of us dressed in the hard barky skin of experienceto insist on a decorumthat rises...
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The Philanthropy of Maynard

by | December 13, 2015 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

 I woke up today with chores on my mind. My buddy Josh LoPresti lent me his woodsplitter, and I had dreams of a mindless day splitting wood and heaving it into a pile for my kids to stack along the fence. But the dryer was broken, and it needed to be fixed. Margret's...
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Dealing with Ether

by | August 12, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

Trying to only see what is in front of me my eyes are continually drawn away from this page and the work left to be done— my labored words etched and scratched away like fleeting mosaics in dry sand. I need a windowless cell to work the alchemy that shapes the...
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Yesterday did not become a poem

by | July 9, 2017 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

Nothing became something else; No thoughts filled my head With wonder or wisdom. Listless sky. Jumbled frames. Fleeting images: Chattering squirrels, Distant rumbling Of rush hour traffic. Today I am more determined, But all that is left Is the promise Of...
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A Perfect Mirror

by | February 11, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

Do not mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself~BuddhaLast night you were so lucky. You didn't have to worry about your grumpy, tired teacher going through hours of journals ands doling out poor grades for what I am sure qualifies for good efforts...
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The Teacher’s Couch

by | October 11, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

It’s not just a couch; it’s a sofa, too ~Fitz           I remember my first year teaching at Fenn—and it was really my first stint as a true worker with responsibilities outside of what I already had in my wheelhouse—and on this day, some twenty something years ago, I...
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How do I know

by | July 8, 2017 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

what I know? The sharp angles of this simple cottage perfected in every board sawn, shingle split and beam hewn into place goes together placed, splined, slid together, bound more by intuition than knowing.
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Welcome

by | August 12, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land... ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden I’ve...
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No Dad To Come Home To

by | August 26, 2014 | Dawghouse, Songs | 0 Comments

Rain’s falling outside of Boston—
Thank God I’m not working tonight.
I’ve got six of my own,
And a stepdaughter at home,
And a momma keeping things right.
I wonder if they’re at the table
With their puzzles, their papers and pens?
When I get off the highway
And pull in that driveway,
Will they run to the window again?

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The Old Tote Road

by | July 25, 2019 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

I clabber down the old tote road towards the red pine forest, leaning on my staff, skirting boulder-strewn ruts and small gullies carved out by two days of heavy rain. It is only a mile or so from our cabin, still, my wife makes me wear a pouch with an iPhone and an...
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A Hard Sell

by | November 13, 2013 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

     As a teacher, I am tired of the word blog, probably because the word “blogging” is incredibly limiting and myopic, especially for someone whose teaching is centered around an online curriculum with blogs front and center on my academic table. I sat through a...
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The Right Side of the Inevitable

by | July 27, 2016 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

  Like birds of a feather, we gather together, 'Cuz they're feeling exactly like you... ~John Prine   I am not afraid of being a white minority. I had lunch today with a Jamaican drummer, a Ugandan farmer, and a Senagalese potter. I don’t say this out of...
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I have been here before

by | September 9, 2017 | Crows and Swallows, Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

Trying to pull a final day Back into the night, execute Some stay of time, Some way to wrap The fabric of Summer Around the balky, frame of Fall, sloughing My skin, unable to stop This reptilian ecdysis— This hideous morphing Into respectability. My students, tame As...
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Once Burned. Twice Shy.

by | April 6, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

Just because no one understands you,  it doesn’t mean you are an artist ~Bumper Sticker        I sometimes wonder why when you give a group of teenagers a video camera, the first impulse is to shoot something stupid. It’s as if there is some jackass switch...
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The Tide

by | August 31, 2014 | Poetry | 0 Comments

They are building a world and the plastic is fading: Margaret and Eddie's buckets are split, pouring out the warm Atlantic as they race along the tidal flat, filling pools connected by frantically dug canals. Tommy squats naked and screams in guttural joy at the...
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Going Google?

by | July 1, 2014 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

When you find yourself in the majority, it's time to join the minority ~Mark Twain I have to admit, Google is pretty impressive. The whole set of features that are offered to the public and to educators for free is pretty astounding: email, document creation and...
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Reflecting on Literature

by | March 27, 2017 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

I am constantly asking my students (and myself) to reflect on the literature they, and I, read. As I have grown older—and not necessarily wiser—I find myself only reading literature that I am sure will prod me out of my intellectual and emotional torpor, like a lizard...
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In the unfolding chores

by | July 7, 2017 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

The day sometimes slip away from me, a huge pine half-bucked in the backyard, the kids old tree fort cut into slabs, a ton of coal waiting to be moved in a train of buckets to the bin. Sipping cold water on the back deck I hear Emma rustling for soccer cleats and...
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The English Soldier

by | July 14, 2014 | Poetry, Raccoon | 0 Comments

There is a soldier dressed in ancient English wool guarding the entrance to the inn. He is lucky for this cool night awaiting the pomp of the out of town wedding party. He is paid to be unmoved by the bride's stunning beauty or her train of lesser escorts. He will not...
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Another Wednesday

by | April 20, 2016 | Journal | 0 Comments

        It is a good night for meatballs. The same meal we have cooked every Wednesday night for thirteen years and counting. Tonight is a beautiful and warm night of vacation week, so more than likely we will have a big crowd joining us—but we never know who. The...
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Redemption

by | October 3, 2014 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

Finally, the tall green pines standing sentinel around this cold and black New Hampshire pond are framed in a sky of blue. After a month of steady rains, foggy nights, and misty days, I am reborn into a newly created world—a world that finally answered my prayers: no...
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Redefining Literacy

by | August 8, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

 My life is the poem I could have writ, But I could not both live and utter it ~Henry David Thoreau    The common man goes to an orchard to taste the fruit. The rich man man learns how to plant his own orchard. The poet, however,  grows an even better fruit and gives...
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Joshua Sawyer Podcast

by | November 11, 2017 | Fitz Podcasts, Journal | 0 Comments

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Trawler

by | August 12, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Songs | 0 Comments

Leave the fog stillness
of a cold harbor town;
cup our hands
in the warm diesel sound—
leave while the children
are calmed in their dreams
by light buoys calling:
“Don’t play around me.”

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Guns, Me, and Rural America

by | February 27, 2018 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

     Sometimes I start writing without knowing where I stand—unsure of even where I stand. I have to trust some innate wisdom or audacity will cull through the bullshit we are all heir to in what Hamlet laments is “this earthly coil” we are forced to face when we wake...
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Supermoon

by | August 10, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

Last night the August supermoon reminded me of the fickleness of time and how substance becomes shadow and memories begin to etch themselves immutably into the hardness of what is already lost.
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The Mystery Within

by | August 15, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

EJ wanted a banana tree for Christmas so that early morning brought a plastic bag, a few meager roots and no directions. I bought some potting soil and a square cedar box EJ placed deliberately by a westward window. He gently splayed the roots, pressed the soil, and...
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