NH POETRY

Sorry, we couldn’t resist the comparison. New Hampshire poet Sam Walter Foss hit the mark time and again with his poetry. This one seems especially on target a century after the poem appeared in Foss’ volume Songs of the Average Man in 1907. Foss attended high school in Portsmouth, NH.

NH fILM

The hardest film to do well is a good documentary. Portsmouth’s Cocked Hat Venutres has hit the mark with its first effort. Abandoned in the Arctic is engaging, authentic and adventurous. without sensationalism it tells the tale of the lost 1881 Greely expedition and the scandal that plagued its survivors.

NH POETRY

Those who cut their own path through the woods have a tough time of it. But they are the true innovators, compared to those who simply follow in the hoofprints of original thinkers. NH poet Sam Walter Foss makes that perfectly clear in this classic about a calf who forged a highway..

NH BOOKS

We love self-published books, especially those that involve students in documenting local history. Too Much Water, Too Much Rain is the story of the flood that devastated parts of Alstead, New Hampshire in 2005. IN its first few months in print, this book sold 2,000 copies.

SEACOAST MOVIES

The odds seem stacked at 6,000 screens to one. And if you measure your movie pleasure in gallons of soda, decibels of sound and dollars spent, it’s no contest. But after visiting the Portsmouth Music Hall and the Regal Stadium 15, our enjoyment meter gives David the victory and Goliath thumb’s down.

SEACOAST POETRY 

In the poem "Maud Muller", a beautiful maiden meets a handsome judge riding along the road from South Berwick to York, Maine. Both are smitten, but neither acts. They are from two different social classes. Among the best known poems of the late 1800s, the fictional Maud Muller inspired a host of parodies. Here is the best of all. (Continued below)

SEACOAST BOOKS

A new e-book of short essays by Farmington, NH author and photographer Jane Wingate explores just about every topic known to humankind. All that in a 300+ page book that does not waste trees and costs just $12. You can get less for more, but as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe put it so well, you can’t hardly get more for less.

SEACOAST BOOKS

Each new black heritage study contributes to our understanding of race in America. This volume focuses on the little-told story of black refugees on the move to Nova Scotia in the years leading up to the Civil War and the African culture they created there.

SEACOAST POETRY

Perhaps you read the classic poem of unrequited love set along the road to York, Maine? Now you also see the original illustrations from the 1867 hardcover edition. Maud wants the Judge and the judge wants her..You can’t always get what you want, but you can live to regret it. 

SEACOAST NH FILM

Backstage with director James Keach and the Peter Maas film version of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard submarine accident. We interviewed the director in 2001 just as the made-for-TV movie hit the airwaves. It isn’t Portsmouth, but this straightforward drama tells it like it was.