I Am Providence: The City that Made H.P. Lovecraft

By Robert Anasi
I never can be tied to raw new things,
For I first saw the light in an old town,
Where from my window huddled roofs sloped down
To a quaint harbour rich with visionings.
Streets with carved doorways where the sunset beams
Flooded old fanlights and small window-panes,
And Georgian steeples toppd with gilded vanes -
These are the sights that shaped my childhood dreams.
- H.P. Lovecraft (written on his memorial plaque near the entrance to the John Hay Library at Brown University).
Standing at the top of Jenckes Street in Providence, Rhode Island, I am looking down, way down, betwe...