“Life Lesson” The Verses of D.A.W., Volume 3, by Daniel Waters, The Indian Hill Press. $15.
Make sure you read “From the Author” — it will prepare you for what’s to come: humor, insights, and truths so succinctly declared as to snap and sparkle their way into your mind. But that is what we’ve come to expect from award-winning poet Daniel Waters, West Tisbury’s first poet laureate, heard regularly on Cape and Islands NPR, artist, musician, writer, operator of Indian Hill Press, and long time vendor at the Artisans Festivals at the Ag Hall in West Tisbury, where he sells his original linoleum block prints, cards, and books.
His latest slim volume of light verse, “Life Lesson,” offers wit and rhymes in a manner as accessible as a handshake.
Pandora’s Diary
Feelings feisty and infernal
Populate our private journal…
Things we’ve thought and never said,
But won’t mind airing once we’re dead.
It is 36 pages, illustrated with Mr. Waters’ block prints, and filled with verses that make you want to grab a stranger to read this or that one out loud and share a smile. The subjects cover the seasons, the objects, and the circumstances of everyday life, Vineyard situations, the environment, cats and clocks, and just the wicked and whimsical musings of the author.
Mid-air Mishap
A goldfinch pilot guns the gas,
Colliding with the window glass.
O bird who beats against my panes,
You breast is brighter than your brains!
And somehow, Mr. Waters’ take on things assumes an endearing quality: He’s read our minds; He’s stood in our shoes for that moment when — with great craft — he tells us what we’ve been thinking.
“Life Lessons” is available at the Artisans Festival at the Ag Hall in West Tisbury, 10 am – 2 pm, Thursdays and Sundays, and at Indian Hill Press.
