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Review by Timothy Gager

There’s something wrong with you if these poems don’t speak to you. If they don’t speak to you it means you are not vulnerable. It means you are uncomfortable when someone is completely honest with you. It means someone sitting next to you on an airplane who is about to tell you the most incredible story you’ve heard in your life and is silenced because you are too busy to listen.

Lawrence Kessenich won the 2010 Strokestown International Poetry Prize. His poetry has been widely published, including in the Sewanee Review, and Poetry Ireland. His chapbook was published by Pudding House Publications in 2008. In 2012, his poem Underground Jesus was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Kessenich has also published essays, one of which was featured on NPR’s This I Believe in 2010 and appears in the anthology This I Believe: On Love. A number of his plays have been produced. He is the author of the novel Cinnamon Girl. He is a Somerville Bagel Bard.

Arrests:
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Shukry Juma, of 41 Corey St., Charlestown, December 3, 6:49 p.m., arrested at 1 Davis Sq. on a charge of disorderly conduct.

Thomas Perrotta, December 3, 8:22 p.m., arrested at Revolution Dr. on warrant charges of shoplifting by asportation, shoplifting by concealing merchandise, shoplifting over $250 by asportation, and larceny by check over $1200.

Please join Ward 6 Alderman Lance Davis, members of the Brown School staff, and the City of Somerville Parks and Open Space Department to discuss renovation ideas for the Brown School schoolyard. We want to hear your thoughts before selecting a landscape architect for the project.

Let the rejoicing commence! The  Annual Boston Christmas Cavalcade for the Homeless will take place at the ONCE Ballroom at 156 Highland Ave., Somerville on Wednesday, December 19. All performer proceeds go to benefit the Somerville Homeless Coalition.

This event, along with a version on Cape Cod, has, over the past decade and a half, become a great seasonal live music tradition, and kind of a homecoming for many of the area’s finest musicians.

Please join the Somerville Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Ward 2 Alderman JT Scott, and Alderman at Large Stephanie Hirsch for the third in a series of community meetings, on Tuesday, December 18, to review renovation plans and the proposed construction schedule for the new Allen Street Playground. The meeting is scheduled for 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Academy Room at the Public Safety Building at 220 Washington St. For more information or with any questions about the project, please contact Arn Franzen at AFranzen@somervillema.gov.

Please join the Somerville Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Ward 2 Alderman JT Scott, and Alderman at Large Stephanie Hirsch for a community meeting on Monday, December 17, for an update on remaining work to be completed at Lincoln Park in the Spring of 2019. The meeting is scheduled for 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Argenziano School cafeteria, 290 Washington St. For more information or with any questions about the project, please contact Arn Franzen at AFranzen@somervillema.gov.

Arnold “Bud” Knox  Jr. Of Lexington, formerly of Reading, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 4, 2018, surrounded by his loving family. Beloved husband of 70 years to Evelyn M. (Taintor) Knox. Devoted father of Jeffrey A. Knox and his wife Carolyn of Milford; Barry J. Knox and his wife Marie of Dover, NH; and Wendy E. (Knox) Costello and her husband Joseph of Lexington. Loving Poppa to Rachel and her husband Tom, Katie and her husband Christian, Christopher and his wife Caitlyn, Julie and her husband Michael, Brendan, Joey, Catherine, Jenna, Jackie and her husband Joseph, Alison, and Jeffrey. Proud great-grandfather to Maggie, Sydney, and Ethan.