Youth sports, Philadelphia, 2023: But it was back on the field in Grays Ferry, earlier in the week, where Anthony Meadows touched upon the heart of the matter, “We want our kids to have a chance. And not just a chance at football, but a chance at life. … It’s just the opportunity and that’s all we want. We want the kids to have opportunity.”

Three poems by Thomas Devaney from The American Poetry Review Jan/Feb 2023 issue with photograph by Vaune Tractman

Thomas Devaney on the Rocky statue

KYW News Radio on the pop-up story project Talking at the Table, September 2022

Talking at the Table is a pop-up story project at the Reading Terminal Market organized by Thomas Devaney. When you come to sit at the table, you have a space set aside for you to share a story and to be seen and heard by people from all walks of life. In a nutshell, it’s a chance to talk to your neighbor. September 2022

Talking at the Table is pop-up story project produced by Thomas Devaney and the Reading Terminal Market

One way to read Pregrets is to embrace the staggering aggerate implications of its granular glimpses.

From my poem “Raccoon”

I didn’t know the strength of a city raccoon,
which busted out through my chest,
escaped down the side street.
Wild eyes of the raccoon’s lightning,
lighting up reflectors from here
to Water Street.

Though the city ultimately hosted over two million people, the 1976 Bicentennial in Philadelphia suffered from overblown expectations. In the wake of the Vietnam War and complicated by the provincial policies of a controversial mayor Frank Rizzo, the celebrations represented the promise of redeeming the economically troubled city. But it laid bare some pressing questions of America’s national identity. This film charts the struggles behind years of planning as it also spotlights the city as a place of resilient communal activity.

Directed by Thomas Devaney, Matthew Suib, and Aaron Igler. Produced by Haverford College’s Hurford Center/VCAM DocuLab Program and Greenhouse Media.

We believe in the front stoop.

We believe in banging pots and pans and honking horns.

We believe that in the heat of day shadows come back.