Electric Boat - A collection of atomic submarine shipyard poems

About this event

Meeting Room 1, Meeting Room 2. Join us for an evening of atomic submarine shipyard poetry with Paul McDonough. Set in and beyond Electric Boat, a young shipfitter comes to terms with the construction of the initial set of Los Angeles class submarines 50 years ago and much more. The publishers, Bob and Susan Arnold from Longhouse, note Electric Boat a collection of atomic submarine shipyard poems have “…the sea edge to them, the rime, the flotsam, the hurt of working in the open, the science of something ever larger than us…along with some fright to what you are living with.” As part of the reading McDonough will dive personally and vicariously into an industrial “sub”-culture from Groton and Quincy to Robert Fulton and Hyman Rickover; focusing more on the voices of the trades than those of the ranks while attending to all things Nautilus. And for the first time in public, McDonough will share the final “On Eternal Patrol” section of the book. It deals with the loss of the Thresher during Holy Week 1963. Paul McDonough’s roots run deep in Southeastern Connecticut. He was 10 years old in Niantic when the Thresher went down. A graduate of Saint Bernard High School, at 20 was working in the yard while the Nautilus underwent an extensive overhaul. A member of Boilermakers Union #614, he later earned a degree in American Literature from Middlebury College. In 1978 he founded Glitch, a literary magazine, from his apartment at 57B Virginia Avenue, a stone’s throw from the EB parking lots. He retired last year from Leidos and lives with his wife in the atomic city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is a member of the Poetry Society of Tennessee. "The poems have the sea edge to them, the rime, the flotsam, the hurt of working in the open, the science of something ever larger than us. It isn’t simply the poems a poet wants to make, but that is essential, and more the overall aura. It is the aura missing from most poets and music today. They don’t live in their work, and your book has it, along with some…

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