Tommy Twilite (Thomas Richard Clark)
Tommy began writing poetry when his 6th grade English teacher had him diagramming sentences and learning parts of speech. He became frustrated with the process and would get his papers back all marked up in red ink. Eventually, the teacher did a section on poetry where Tommy received a “gold star”. With this encouragement, He tried harder and started to catch on to English grammar. In 2004, Tommy dedicated his first chapbook of poetry to his teacher, Mrs Jean Curran. He continued to write poetry sporadically throughout High School, where he engaged in many activities, including basketball, tennis, student council, art, etc.
Tommy was born Thomas Richard Clark in Florence, Massachusetts in 1958. He continues to live on the same street where his family has resided for seven generations. Family legend has it that the Clark family came to Florence in the 1860’s as abolitionists, as Florence was a noted historical center of this movement. Tommy grew up as a working class kid, the oldest of 5 siblings. His dad, the original “Dick Clark” literally laughed when Tommy asked for an allowance. He replied, “I guess you’ll have to get a job, son”. Tommy had many jobs from the time he was 6 yrs old, from shoe-shine boy, to paperboy, to pinboy at the bowling alley, to pickle picker and summer camp counselor. Tommy met his wife Jeannine when they were working together at Friendly Ice Cream in the late 1970’s. All of these early life experiences helped Tommy develop his unique poetic voice.
Tommy worked his way through college as a clerk at a hardware store. He learned a lot about nuts and bolts and tools and fixing toilets. He learned how to talk with people who came to him with questions about how to solve their problems. He continued to write poems more frequently than before. Then, Tommy became “Tommy Twilite” after he dropped out of Umass in the early 1980’s to become the front man of a new wave style punk band originally known as “No Apparent Reason”. They were part of the Northampton music scene that mainly revolved around Sheehan’s and the Bay State Hotel. They played occasional gigs and recorded many original songs at Multitrax studio. Tommy was the lyricist and singer, and abstract artist Peter Smolenski served as composer and lead guitarist. They enjoyed a long collaboration producing and recording original rock and experimental music well into the 2010’s. Today, Tommy moves his music in a new direction as a solo performer of his original songs, combining his guitar stylings and impassioned vocals in the troubadour tradition.
As Tommy continued to write poems and lyrics throughout the 80’s and 90’s, he filled notebooks and scraps of paper with his words. He stored them in an old milk crate, not knowing exactly what to do with them. He joined the Northampton Fire Dept in 1985, and began a long, successful career as a Firefighter, Captain and EMT. He kept writing, doing music on the side. Tommy and Jeannine bought an old house across the street from where he grew up. They adopted a son Tomas from Peru in 1989, and a second son Inti from Bolivia in 1993. Tommy kept writing. Eventually around 2003, he met up with an old friend by chance at a poetry reading. Carl Russo and Tommy had been friends for years but neither of them knew of the other’s love of poetry. They quickly agreed to start a poetry group and call it the Florence Poets Society. The mission of the group would be to promote literacy and the development of a person’s own unique poetic voice. It would be free for all people from all walks of life, anyone who wanted to read and share original poems. They also started a radio show called the Twilite Poetry Pub on WXOJ valleyfreeradio.org which features a variety of music and poetry selections, and live in-studio interviews and performances with poets and musicians. Carl Russo passed away in 2012, but the Florence Poets continue today with Tommy at the helm, holding regular monthly meetings at the Lilly Library and publishing Silkworm, the society’s annual review, where Tommy serves as executive editor. Tommy also continues to host the Twilite Poetry Pub.
When Tommy started publishing he kept “Tommy Twilite” as his nom de plume and stage name to avoid confusion with well known poet “Tom Clark” (1941-2018), and well known NYC musician “Tom Clark”. Tommy has published numerous chapbooks, a full length collection “Fifty Words for Rain”, and several albums. He has read his poetry at the National Fire Academy, the Academy of Music, The 10th Annual Gonzofest, the Parkside Lounge and venues large and small throughout the New England / New York area. He was honored by the National Beat Poetry Foundation as Massachusetts Beat Poet Laureate 2021-2023 and New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2024-Lifetime). Tommy believes that poetry and music can change the world.