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Thomas DeFreitas was born in Boston, and was baptized at St. Anthony’s Church in Somerville at the age of eighteen days. He grew up in East Boston and attended the Boston Latin School, where, under the tutelage of exceptional teachers, he encountered poetry in a big way. He spent three semesters at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). His poems have been published in Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Plainsongs, Ibbetson Street, Pensive, Ovunque Siamo, and elsewhere. Thomas’s fourth collection of poems, Walking Between the Raindrops, will be published in 2025 by Kelsay Books.
Impulsive
![](https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/defreitas_web.jpg)
Thomas DeFreitas
The most impulsive thing I’ve ever done
Was not to spread some butter on a bun
Or steal a pencil from the Bradley School
Or break a strict pedantic grammar-rule
Or give a beggar a five-dollar bill
Or walk au naturel up Beacon Hill
Or swim in the Atlantic with the sharks
Or chase big dogs while mimicking their barks
Or scamper in the grass with antic squirrels
Or dress in Vera Wang with a string of purrels
Or send fan letters to Drew Barrymore
Or drink beer till it seeps from every pore
Or run the Boston Marathon (it’s doable)
Or swing at curveballs with a bat from Louisville
Or join in circles with my favorite Wiccan
Or flap my arms while clucking like a chicken.
My most impulsive deed, if truth be told?
Hell, I forgot. I must be getting old.
— Thomas DeFreitas
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To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143
dougholder@post.harvard.edu
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