Jonathan Towers (1948-2005), known as “The Walking Man,” spent the last decade of his life in Westport – chosen to be close to the site of the last major Indian massacre in New England. He had spent some childhood summers in Westport and as "The Walking Man" he visited Westport, Southport and Greens Farms… local cafes and restaurants, libraries, beaches and the Bridgeport Bluefish. A child of the sixties, Towers was an eclectic scholar excelling at various universities, but never completing a degree. Literature and anthropology were his fascinations and the vision quest was his motivation. After his suicide, his poems were published by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences- a group dedicated to the study of the holistic relationship of mind, body and nature.
Reading Westport Poems by Jonathan Towers will jog your memory of past places around town (Allen’s Clam & Lobster House,) or remind you to take a fresh look at places you pass everyday (Saugatuck River/Westport Library, U.S.1/Westport,The Baron’s Property,) or make you notice details when you visit local restaurants and stores (Angelina’s, Tiger Bowl, Organic Market,) or remind you of past town events (Song of the Road, A Local Murder.) Other poems concern neighboring towns and there are some about Albany and Manhattan. Towers was an obvious presence and an invisible historian in our midst.
Here’s one of my favorites:
To a Librarian Who Left Her Job
somewhere else
the bright giggle
of your talk
will be heard
your extreme competence
attractiveness
and winning manner
will be seen and felt
while we remain here
with the echo
of your memory
and a silent protest
against the transiency
that moved you on.
"The Walking Man" and his poems echo in our memories.
