*Excerpts from Mill City Papers Vol. I
(2007-2010)
The closer i got to the city the more i heard sirens.
A Black kid, a Spanish kid, and an Asian kid…
Crossin’ the street together.
Kind’a nice walkin’ through that alleyway at 11am. Sunshine peekin’ in here and there. Hearin’ the cars goin’ by out on the streets? Smell that lunch food comin’ through the back doors of the Athenian Corner and the Dubliner? Smells like potato skins or somethin’ else frying.
Seen this homeless, raggedy lookin’, somewhat young girl takin’ out all these paper bags with empty Natty Ice 40’s out of the brush along the riverwalk. There must’a been about 50 of ‘em. She said, “Lotta cans huh?” i said yeah, and kept walkin’. i thought it was fucked up, in a sad kind’a way. Few minutes later a single bird flew off the railin’ when i walked by it. And there was a single feather stuck in a cobweb at the spot where the bird had been sitting. i picked it up, carried it between my thumb and forefinger for a minute, then put it down on a windowsill in the back of the Boott Museum.
Walkin’ through the city on a rainy night. Don’t see nobody else ‘cept in cars. Hearin’ the water drippin’ droppin’ off the buildin’s and gushin’ out the drainpipes in the alleyway.
Homeless folks sleepin’ in the library during the day.
Them sirens penetrate the buildings…
Seems like no matter where you are, you can hear them. Quiet! i’m sittin’ in the Pollard library.
Cappy’s Copper Kettle got one’a them actual phone booths…
Old school. i like that. My whole life i always thought it would be cool if my spirit could go back and feel the times of the ‘50’s and/or ‘60’s and/or ‘70’s.
Heard this guy in the elevator sayin’ he had to move from Appleton St. He said it’s “bad,” like “the combat zone” at night, ‘specially on the weekends…
With the liquor store and the Store 24 and the porno spot.
Thinkin’ “damn,” while i’m layin’ my head down to sleep here…
“That dude’s at the shelter.”
In the city it’s like people come outta the brickwork…
‘Cause unless you know someone personally, you don’t know what apartment they’re tucked up in. You see the lights on, but you don’t know who’s up there.
Old decrepit buildin’ with a steam engine in it on Middlesex St. next to the shelter. Wide open hole in the ceilin’…
Plenty holes in the floor…
Look how far the hole goes…
Look like the black abyss.
He didn’t see that, but i saw them people tucked in that alley…
Sump’n goin’ on, whatever it may be. Middlesex St. Ghetto.
Van with signs for a food drive, deliverin’ food around the way. There was one sign on there that said “Jesus is Still Alive.”
All the sirens…
You don’t know what’s waitin’ for them on the other end.
Sunrays comin’ down through clouds shinin’ on city buildin’s.
When i read Kerouac’s work it makes me realize how much history this city has. Matter of fact—me an’ my cousin were in the Worthen the other night, and these seemingly out-of-towners came in talkin’ ‘bout the history there. Talkin’ ‘bout the architecture and the old two-bladed fans and so on.
Some’a these folks gotta walk miles to the store for groceries.
Sirens—the city’s cryin’.
People pickin’ through the garbage.
Birds flyin’ over the canal…
East Merrimack…
i turn slightly and see the sun shinin’ over the Sun buildin’.
These neighborhoods, where the houses are so close to each other—right on top of one another…
There’s a homey, peaceful feeling. Realize that there’s people all around you, not far away, all in their little compartments/apartments. The souls and spirits all gathered in close proximity is what creates that homey feeling.
Watch the night comin’ down on the city…
Hookslide Kelly’s back-alleyway…
i lean my recline in this stool, lean my head back on the concrete wall an’ look up at the buildin’ on the left-lane side of Merrimack St. Feels so homey, ‘cause it’s old…
Closer to ancestry. Closer to inception…
Closer to GOD. Red Sox game on the hangin’ tv.
You want a plain example that we’re all equal as humans, regardless of ethnicity?...
Go to a grocery store in a diverse area. i seen whites, blacks, browns from different countries. Earthly body gotta eat, spiritual energy also need to feed. Them little middle-eastern girls lookin’ up at me, standin’ at the corner of the 4-way intersection with their mother as i walked by. Father had just asked me directions, i didn’t know where the place was he was lookin’ for.
The city’s alive…
If it weren’t for all the people, the city wouldn’t be alive like this. The natural land would still be alive, and the birds…
But all the cars racin’ by and the interaction and commerce exchange and the beefs and the sounds and the love and the hate and all that…
3 stabbings last night—right there on Shattuck St.
You can hear the sirens inside the elevators, even when they’re movin’.
On top of Christian Hill. Feel like I’m on top of the world…
Alone with GOD.
Sittin’ at Fortunados an’ we hear sirens…
Next we hear and see a little black car bombin’ down Middle St. …
Then a cop in pursuit…
Then another goin’ down the wrong way on Palmer St. in an attempt to cut them off. Damn, i just arrived back in town from NY and was sayin’ i can’t believe they call Lowell a city (in comparison).
i’m the type to wear a shirt with a realistic picture of Jesus dyin’ on the Cross. Some don’t know how to take it. Some get offended, some smile. i ain’t ashamed of GOD, so He won’t be ashamed of me.
Sometimes i like starin’ into brick—how it overlaps—the pattern…
Hypnotizin’.
It’s like a mini-city. Watchin’ the people scatter around like ants in different directions.
Sittin’ at the Blue Shamrock, ‘bout 10pm, drinkin’, hearin’ the fountain runnin’—water gurglin’. So beautiful out here with the trees overhangin’ and the white Christmas lights in ‘em…
The summer breeze is slight an’ warm…
When i see these old-timers in the city with their trenchcoats and fedora hats it gives me a glimpse of what it must’ve looked like back in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s ‘round here.
Used syringes by the canal under the catwalk for Middlesex college.
My uncle got mugged by 4 people in between the Worthen and the Club Diner…
Woke up in the hospital.
Them 2 little babies got no father now…
He was shot and killed inside a Lowell home.
Arthur’s Diner—like steppin’ back in time…
Feel Lowell…
Walk around on a rainy, overcast day…
Look at all the old architecture…
Go down to the river, under the bridges…
Walk E. Merrimack St., High St., Chestnut St. …
See the lights, hear the sirens, smell the streets. Go into PJ’s corner store and buy a bag of chips and a drink…
See the old-timers, see the young thugs…
Try to go into the church…
Sit in the Pollard library for a while…
Read some works by Jack Kerouac…
See Fayette St., the auditorium an’ Saints Memorial hospital…
Stackpole’s right over there, Ash St. …
Keep walking…
Catcher’s Mitt pub, quarter-to-twelve on a Thurs. mornin’…
Sirens whale as the fire truck steams by, rumbling the wall i’m leaning on, kicking back drinkin’ a brew. Sun shinin’ bright through the windows…
Christmas decorations up, Christmas music playin’. i heard some states, towns, whatever, tryin’ to prohibit the word Christmas…
Man…
LORD forgive them, for they know not what they do. Anyway…
Walked from Moore up Lincoln to Tanner St. to Plain St. and back to Moore and Meadowcroft and Bolt Sts. on business. Beautiful morning in Lowell.