“Abbadia Mare”: A Night of Poetry & Pride
Throughout his remarkable life, John Hays Hammond Jr. (b. 1888-d.1965) was part of a fascinatingly diverse community of Queer individuals, which met at his architecturally unique Museum, called the city of Gloucester home, and stretched from Cape Ann across the country and beyond. Hammond’s correspondence with these people, among whom were some of the inventor’s closest friends and loved ones, paints a small picture of a vast network of deeply creative individuals which was the lifeblood of a fundamentally transformative period in the history of Gloucester, and America’s, cultural identity.
This #CapeAnnPride Month, join members of the community in celebrating this important and often overlooked aspect of local history and culture. With readings by community members from works by CharlesOlson, John Wieners, Robert Duncan, Gerrit Lansing, Daisy Alden, and many others, including, for the first time, newly unearthed poems by John Hays Hammond Jr. himself.
The evening will culminate in a reading of a unique illuminated version of “Abbadia Mare,” a poem written by Gerrit Lansing in the Museum’s Guest Book in 1959 about the building and personally dedicated to Hammond.
6:30: Reception
7 --8:00 pm: Curated Reading
Location: Great Hall
Ticket Price: $30.00