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, betw...