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Thomas DeFreitas was born in 1969 in Boston. He was educated at the Boston Latin School, and attended the University of Massachusetts (Boston and Amherst) for two years. His poems have appeared in Dappled Things, Ibbetson Street, Pensive, Plainsongs, and elsewhere. Thomas’s first chapbook, Winter in Halifax, was published in 2021 by Kelsay Books. A resident of Arlington for the last twelve years, Thomas is a member of the Academy of American Poets, the New England Poetry Club, and Arlington’s Bee Hive Poets.

Thomas DeFreitas

Dreaming of Somerville

I dream of shining fish, slow and sleek,
swimming the murk of the Mystic.

I dream of murals in Brickbottom,
graffiti at Walnut and Pearl.

I dream of slender mysterious poems
kept in Nana’s pantry on the second floor
of the house on Laurel Terrace.

I dream of the face of God
on the Number 80 bus,
the feet of God in dollar-store flip-flops,
the arms of God lugging groceries
up Spring Hill.

I dream of cool September nights,
of festivals in August,
of akathists and litanies,
the bells of the Dormition.

I dream of College Avenue,
alive with a thousand undergraduates
and bright with banners of Pride.

I dream of Tony’s Spa, long gone.
I dream of the Burren, the Sligo.
I dream of Renée’s Café.

I dream of summer-limber dancers
lindy hopping in Davis Square
on a golden and dance worthy Saturday.

I dream of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
I dream of the Lost Bookstore.
I dream of the Armory.

— Thomas DeFreitas

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