Endicott Review. Spring 2006. (Endicott College Beverly, Mass.) No. Price.

Having been a visiting poet in Nov. 2005 at Endicott College I can attest to the fact that the college has an active poetry community, as evidenced by their literary mag: “The Endicott Review.” Don Sklar, poet and head of the Creative Writing Department acts as a faculty advisor, along with Ruth Henderson. There is a lot of good stuff by students and people some way connected to the college on these pages. “At Sixty-Five,” (a poem by John M. Freiermuth), is a lyrical guide to the “stages of man.”

“At forty-five, I admonished my parents, “Don’t ever get old!”
But like the kids they had become,
they didn’t listen to the parent in me. Now I can hear
the faint whirring of Grimm’s scythe…”

In “Leaving Lansing, 1945,” Jack Murray brings us back to our seminal foray into the world-at-large. In this poem he uses detailed, evocative writing to capture an eighteen year old would-be artists’ first trip to Chicago:

“Chicago
a big dirty city
windy cold place,
hot like a steam-bath
in July…gangsters and thugs too
neighbors warn me.

yet I pack
my favorite things,


“new suitcase
with straps and brass buckles
rests on the rack above me
…a graduation gift.
light in the cars
is semi-darkness
occasional shuffling and snores.
I hear the porter call
Valparaiso, South Bend and Gary.
in blackness the train speeds
towards dawn and Chicago.”

There is also fine work by Sean Teaford, Betsy Retallack, and others. Included are photos and artwork. I would have included a bio section…but you can’t have everything. This digest-sized journal joins the ranks of student magazines like “Watermark” (U/Mass Boston), “Dudley Review,” (Harvard University), and “Clarion,” (Boston University), and does itself proud. Dan Sklar tells me Endicott is starting an MFA program so stay tuned for other developments!

Doug Holder/Ibbetson Update