I’ve been thinking about two very funny writers, both gone now. Marty Nadler, who carved out a widely-appreciated spot for himself as the Vineyard’s standup comic in residence — in a 2010 article in this newspaper, he was referred to as the Island’s Comic Laureate — died on August 26. Before moving to the Vineyard in 1992, Marty was a writer for the sitcoms my generation was raised on: “Happy Days,” “Laverne & Shirley,” and “The Odd Couple.”
I met Marty almost 30 years ago. We’d get together for coffee at Mocha Mott’s to talk about his writing projects, my writing projects, and maybe working on a project together. Marty told hilarious stories. He certainly knew how to get a laugh, but he was also generous with his laughter. Almost everyone who walked into Mott’s knew Marty, and most of them stopped by the table to schmooze before moving on with their day.
Marty generally did at least one night of standup every summer. He’d riff on the local headlines, the peculiarities of year-round life, and the day-trippers. One of his jokes was about a confused tourist looking for “Upis Land.” (Yes, that’s up-Island.)
I’ve also been thinking about Arnie Reisman, who was a playwright, documentary filmmaker, activist, radio personality, poet, and raconteur. Arnie was a literary adventurer whose explorations traversed genres. His career took him from local Boston TV to the bright lights of Broadway, which isn’t a direct path on anyone’s GPS. It was after moving to the Vineyard year-round with his wife Paula Lyons, in 2011, that Arnie started writing poetry. While living on the Vineyard, he also wrote a play, and made a documentary that got adapted into a musical that ran on Broadway and starred Patti Lupone. As he said in a 2015 interview, “This Island is the home of reinvention. You’re either from here or you’re reinvented.”
Arnie passed away in 2021, but he’s been on my mind because the M.V. Playhouse is relaunching the Arnie Reisman Poetry Café on Sept. 30, thanks to the efforts of poet Michael West. Michael encouraged Brooke Hardman, who is currently winding down her first summer as artistic director of the Playhouse, to bring back the monthly poetry salon. At this year’s inaugural café, poems will be read by Steven Ewing, a former Edgartown poet laureate; Adriana Stimola, West Tisbury poet laureate; and Claudia Taylor, the Vineyard’s current poet laureate.
During a recent phone conversation, Michael recalled that Arnie parachuted down into the poetry scene on the Island almost unseen. In 2014, he was named M.V. poet laureate. “Nobody had the slightest idea he wrote poetry,” Michael said. But Arnie made things happen.
“After the building was renovated, we put our heads together, and Arnie came up with a format,” MJ Bruder Munafo recalled. MJ was the artistic and executive director of the Playhouse, and was eager for more programming in the off-season. After Arnie died, the event was renamed Arnie’s poetry café.
Fast-forward to 2026. Michael wanted to make sure poets on the Island continued to have a down-Island venue to be heard. “There’s a huge community of poets on the Vineyard — I mean huge,” he said, adding that having the opportunity to read your poems in public helps “validate that what you’re doing isn’t completely crazy.”
Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 30, the Arnie Reisman Poetry Café will gather monthly for an hourlong featured reading followed by a 30-minute open mic. Each evening will run from 7 to 8:30 pm.
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I think it’s fair to say that literary life on the Vineyard is having a moment. This summer was brimming with book festivals, book launches, writing workshops, and author talks. The M.V. Institute for Creative Writing hosted writing conferences in May and June. The MV Times writers’ festival, Islanders Write, was held in July. The M.V. Black Book Festival returned for the third year in August. The M.V. Author Series brought in heavy hitters, including Michelle Obama, whose book talks sold out in under two minutes. There were also library talks, bookstore events, and private parties celebrating authors. At The MV Times, almost every week we find out about a new book by a Vineyard author, and barely a month goes by where we don’t receive word about a novel that takes place on the Island.
Before I sign off on this column, I want to mention a group close to my heart that has been gathering on Thursday mornings from 8 to 9 am at the West Tisbury library for the past three summers. In 2024, after my novel “Morning Pages” was published and I was promoting the book, I facilitated a morning pages–inspired workshop at the library for a week. It then evolved into a weekly Thursday morning gathering that is open to all. Three years later, I’m no longer promoting the book, but we still gather.
Generally, 15 to 25 people show up. No one is required to read what they write. Each week we do 10 minutes of stream-of-consciousness writing, followed by a prompt. I generally give the group 12 minutes to write from a prompt. That’s right, 12 minutes. Less than a third of the time it takes to get to Woods Hole, or the time it takes to get through the Triangle near the Stop & Shop in Edgartown on a summer day. In the life cycle of a writer’s life, 12 minutes can be spent perseverating over a single word, or even the placement of a comma. But during these mornings at the West Tisbury library, 12 minutes has inspired a magnificent bounty of powerful prose and poetry. Like magic, rabbits are pulled out of the hat every Thursday morning. The stories that came out of these 12 minutes pack punches, generate laughter, bring us to tears, and connect us in meaningful ways.
Twelve minutes. Sometimes that’s all it takes to tell a story. Give it a try. Sit down with pen and paper or at your computer. Set a timer, and write about one notable event that happened to you while on the Vineyard this summer. If you like what you wrote, send it in. We’ll collect a few of these stories to publish in October’s Islanders Write newsletter.
To send us your story, go to islanderswrite.com
