Peter Scarbo Frawley,
Wellfleet’s Concrete Poet, Dies at 81

Peter Frawley in 2013. Photo: Susie Nielsen

Peter Scarbo Frawley, who wrote concrete poetry and supported his family by painting houses, died at the Lily House in Wellfleet on March 17, 2025. He was 81 and had struggled with failing health for several years, said his son, Seamus.

Peter was born in Boston on April 21, 1943 and was raised in Dorchester by his parents, Joseph and Rita Scarbo. Despite being in and out of trouble as a young man, he excelled in school and graduated early from Dorchester High School. He studied for a time at the Boston Architectural Center but decided to devote himself instead to poetry, said Seamus.

Peter moved to Provincetown in 1967, attracted by its artist community. “He found people he could relate to,” said Seamus. He worked at the East End Bookshop, owned by Molly Malone Cook, the partner of poet Mary Oliver. Filmmaker John Waters also worked there, and Oliver was a frequent presence. Peter became interested in beatnik poems and began experimenting with alternative forms of poetry.

Peter was a writing fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center from 1969 to 1971, part of the first cohort of fellows with Keith Althaus, Roger Skillings, and Louise Glück.