Martha’s Vineyard vs Nantucket
Not much between us.
Their two hundred pound linemen,
our tailback like a greased pig.
Their winters even longer than our own,
our superiority of trees.
Same wind-blasted sand dunes and canceled boats,
same tackles and cheerleaders sired by tackles and cheerleaders.
Same empty roads that lead nowhere,
same solitude we thought was all ours.
Some stick around, some go long and don’t look back.
Some stumble into trouble and break free, some
don’t. Like fraternal twins separated at birth,
we don’t recognize each other, barely speak,
but knock each other down to see who gets up
first. As the winners or losers line up for the shuttle
to the flight or ferry ride home, the home team
waves or turns their backs and everyone who has one
leans on their car horns.
Donald Nitchie lives in Chilmark. His poetry chapbook “Driving Lessons” was published in 2008 from Pudding House.
