1942-1981: Educator, poet,
friend;
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Mark Leigh Gibbons
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The Good Doctor and an appreciative acolyte (left) at the Stone Studio in Marion circa 1980.
Mark and Fred
Goodridge at South Street, December 1972.
How I Love My Life!
Each morning I awake amid the soothing aftertaste of dreams
in which I am peacefully omnipotent and am pleasantly surprised
that my wakeful life is so much like my dreams.
My wives and children are singing aubades by the mist-shrouded
pool in the orchid conservatory; they beam like little suns when
they see me.
For breakfast each wonderful day I eat only my favorite foods.
This morning an ellipsoidal, roseate mango - perfectly ripe.
Its juices gush cool sweetness on my lips and tongue but never
drip on my shirt or make my hands sticky.
My newspapers (decorated with delicate graphics) are filled with
amusing and informative feature stories and news articles praising
all my friends for what they are doing. What I said and did yesterday
is the subject of a special, dedicatory editorial. The weather
report is always just as I had hoped.
What a surprise! My dressing room has been redecorated in transparent
pastel materials; the floor is opalescent and the curtains are
fashioned of living flowers that move aside as I walk through
them.
All my favorite costumes are still there though -- and even some
new fashions with which I'll set the pace. But not today; for
this morning, in disguise I'm to distribute gifts among the citizens
I'll talk with while pretending I am a visitor from another planet.
They will appreciate my wisdom and be grateful for my generosity.
My bowel movement was vastly pleasurable. My hair falls gracefully
in place over my tanned shoulders. Eyes and teeth gleam. I laugh
when I again remember that though forty I still look eighteen.
Two birds of paradise drape my cloak on my arm; my pet dogs open
the door and the happy servants sing praise as I step to the
rigged catamaran and begin a brisk sail to the city gleaming
in the distance.
Not merely pleasure, but arousing adventure awaits my many disguises.
Thrilling danger that ends in safety and honor! Brilliant abstract
conceptions and immortal witticisms! Consuming love affairs that
end end in friendship just as other love affairs begin! Every
thought and action to be proud of! How I love my life!
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The Gibbons Oeuvre...
Commencement Night ·
Sunny Day · Picasso
· Faculty Dining Room
· The Day I Massacred Section
101-H: Introduction to Literary Studies · Rum
Winter Sestina
Neddie Bradshaw · Outward Bound · Stephen
Everett, 1945-1963 · Pumping
Up · Playing Possum
· Today · Tonight · Spring
Fever
Daisy Buchanan · Elizabeth Bishop Selects the Right
Word, and Then... · Dorothy
Wordsworth · For Angela
· Ronettes · The Last Poets · Poem
With Nothing · Elvis
The Decline Of Arabia Felix
· Athalaric ·
Shaping Up · Herring
Run · Dip Stick
The Undertaker's Daughter ·
This Sovereign Remedy ·
Wanting to be Twins ·
Weekends in New York ·
ZAP! The TV Hums
The Seven Deadly Sins ·
Anger · Envy
· Covetousness ·
Gluttony · Lust
· Pride
This · When
His Sister Died · Shopping
the Mercado · Hepatitis
1 · Hepatitis 2 ·
Naked Singularity
Across
the Street · An Unexpected
Funeral · Eczema
· Classmates ·
Still Life · Trashing
the Deb Party
The Boys At L Street Beach ·
Feeding Frenzy · Endangered Species · The Last Leper of Saint-Lazare
· Views of Lisbon ·
Vine · A
July Revolution in Zihuatanejo 1974
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from The Boston Globe
Saturday, April 11, 1981; page 21
Mark Gibbons, 37 (sic; Gibbons was 38)
Education writer and consultant
MARION - Educator and author Mark L. Gibbons, 37, formerly of
Cambridge, died yesterday as a result of an automobile accident
here.
According to police his car apparently went out of control and
hit a stone wall near his home. He died shortly after arriving
at the Tobey Hospital in Wareham.
Dr. Gibbons was the writer in residence for the Eagle Hill Foundation,
an education institution in Greenwich, Conn., and had completed
a book on the diagnosis of learning disabilities in children.
Dr. Gibbons received his bachelors degree from Amherst College
and his master's and doctorate from Rutgers University. He had
been an assistant professor at Boston College, a teaching fellow
at Rutgers, an instructor at Tabor Academy in Marion, an editorial
assistant for Reader's Digest, and was nationally known as an
education writer and consultant.
He was born in Middleborough and was the son of Virginia Gibbons
Roy of Marion and the late Dr. Leo N. Gibbons.
In addition to his mother he leaves a sister, Gail Swain Hart
of Worcester; a stepfather, Howard A. Roy of Marion; and three
nephews.
Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. at St. Rita's
Church in Marion.