The Penny Poet of Portsmouth

November 30, 2015
Towler, a novelist, poet, and religion blogger for the Huffington Post, interweaves a story of friendship with reflections on what it means to be a writer and to belong to a place. Robert Dunn, former poet laureate of Portsmouth, N.H., and a mysterious yet loved member of his community, becomes ill in the early 1990s and reaches out to Towler, his next of kin. Towler’s capacity for compassion is challenged as she cares for Dunn and confronts the possibility of his death. In an honest portrayal of friendship and the artist’s life, Towler generously paints Dunn as an imperfect, dedicated poet and discusses the complicated relationships she shares with family and friends. She examines what it means to commit oneself to the solitude necessary for writing, sometimes in conflict with the responsibility one has to a community. Her vivid descriptions and stories of pre-gentrification Portsmouth make a beautiful elegy to a place where originality was cherished and Dunn’s reclusive, unique spirit was fostered. On Dunn’s unwavering commitment to poetry and Portsmouth, she writes, “Whatever he needed, which wasn’t much, could be found right here. This is the mark of real brilliance, to be profoundly engaged with what is simple and ordinary, and to know it as rich beyond measure.” With eloquent prose, Towler crafts a beautiful portrait of friendship and writing and tenderly, insightfully expresses the lessons she learns through her journey at Dunn’s side.

December 1, 2015
The tale of the author's discovery of a compelling "minor poet" in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the early 1990s, novelist Towler (Writing/Southern New Hampshire Univ.; Island Light, 2010, etc.) moved to Portsmouth, where her husband had taken a position as a psychologist. At first, she was surprised to find herself in a place whose conservative politics felt alien to her and where unannounced visits by neighbors were a common occurrence. Having moved 20 times along the East Coast, with "a vaguely articulated notion that staying in one place too long" would undermine her ability to gather observations for her first novel, she worried about settling down. In Portsmouth, though, the author found inspiration for several novels and, now, a closely observed memoir of her ultimately inscrutable friendship with Robert Dunn, whose aspirations to be a "minor poet" were as intense as Towler's desire to become a major novelist. "Minor poets have more fun," Dunn declared. "There is no joy in the struggle for recognition, for money and fame and all they entail," the author came to realize, "but there is a joy in the thing itself, the making of the poems." Despite Dunn's overt satisfaction with his life, Towler often imagined negativity for which there seemed to be no evidence. Celebrated as the poet laureate of Portsmouth, Dunn was pleased to offer readings and appear at events, a response that surprises Towler. She imagined that he found meetings of the Poet Laureate Program dull and tedious, when in fact, he seemed to enjoy them. She imagined that he was annoyed at her "frantic anxiety" over her "craving for recognition," seeing in his eyes "a hint of accusation" that he did not articulate. As Dunn aged and was beset by illness, he came to rely on Towler for errands and support, a dependency that often puzzled her and is likely to puzzle readers. A gently told memoir of an elusive poet and a mysterious friendship.

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December 1, 2015
Single, peripatetic Towler moved up and down the East Coast until her thirties, seeking only the time to write and finding jobs that allowed her that freedom. By her midforties, however, she had lived eight years, married, in Portsmouth, and had just voted for a brilliant, reclusive poetRobert Dunn, who binds his own books and sells them for a pennyas poet laureate. Towler had crossed paths with Dunn for years, trading few comments but always impressed by his vast knowledge of poetry, ancient and contemporary. Now, she and Portsmouth were asking him to step up and into the spotlight, and he did not disappoint them. Writing in an honest, pensive voice, and telling of a life spent seeking the time and solitude to write, Towler learned to value community, and other humans, and Dunn became dear to her. But Dunn fell sick, midbook, and the weight of his illness fell heavily on many, most particularly, Towler. This ruminative, winsome book, which offers some of Dunn's poems and a couple of selections from his notebooks, ponders what writers need from life. For some, it is the gift of insignificance. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)