The wonderful editors at Salamander literary magazine in Boston have published a poem of mine titled, deep breath here, “Poem in Response to a Friend Likening a Woodpecker to a Hammer or a Drill.” And you’re right, the good people of the Academy have created a new award category for unnecessarily long titles, with this as the first winner! Here follows the backstory for the poem: I was walking from my place, a four-bedroom shared apartment in Somerville’s Winter Hill, to Porter Square station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, along streets packed tight with tenants in triple deckers. There was nothing significant about the place, or the day. It was any other walk to any other train. But after turning onto a side street, I heard the knocking. It was intermittent, and the sound seemed to jump off the very eaves of one of the houses. I walked a brief ways down a driveway, never shy, and found the source. The woodpecker was going to work on the home and I was hooked. In my mind it was after termites, so I went with that. Later I realized I should have shooed it away from doing such damage, but at the time, the thought never crossed my mind. So I sat, and listened. Read the result here, or here: http://salamandermag.org/poem-in-response-to-a-friend-likening-a-woodpecker-to-a-hammer-or-a-drill/

This is being posted a bit later than published, but this summer the Boston Globe’s Travel editor assigned me to discover ten unique, off the track beaches, cultural activities, and other local joints to fill a day in Falmouth, one of the first towns across the Bourne Bridge, which carries day trippers and summer residents to man-made Cape Cod from the mainland. Among my discoveries were a local opera company comprised solely of college students from around the country chomping at the bit for a summer performing near the sea; the country’s oldest marine aquarium, free to the public; and a local cafe where the walls are plastered in local art for sale. The photos were taken by me as well. Click here to read the article.

My Boston Globe editor was kind enough to let me fulfill one of my primary writing goals recently – he let me pen a nearly 1,300-word feature article about hiking! If you don’t know me that well, it’s one of my top five ways to spend time, up there with writing, playing guitar, reading, and one that I’ll keep to myself – this is a family-friendly site. Ahem. Anyways. Click here to read the story of the brave souls that ascend the tallest of New England’s mountains in the dead of winter, or follow the link, here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2014/01/07/the-winter-footer-club-members-hike-new-england-tallest-mountains-most-dangerous-conditions/78GAFPFXhPYCcD7EbKfH1N/story.html

Hello, and thanks for visiting this repository of James Cronin’s writings, where you will find links to his poetry, news articles, and other scribblings. The site is still under construction, so for now, just click the “About” tab and you can link directly to publications whose editors were kind enough to accept his work. Please comment if the mood takes you there.