‘Black Homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard’
Authors Thomas Dresser and Richard Lewis Taylor offer us a comprehensive perspective in their just-published book, “Black Homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard: A History.”
Although they offer a plethora of information about specifics here on the...
Poet’s Corner: She Remains Silent No Longer
She Remains Silent No Longer
By Louise LoCascio Matarazzo
She Remains Silent No Longer
Being raised to please others
It was difficult for her to ask
for what she wanted.
Being reprimanded for not doing things Right.
She silently walked around...
Oysters and us
The title of Dan Martino’s new book, “The Oyster Book: A Chronicle of the World’s Most Fascinating Shellfish — Past, Present, and Future,” may seem like hyperbole until you start reading.
Martino, co-owner of Cottage...
Poet’s Corner: Morning Glory Corn
Morning Glory Corn
By Michael West
If you told me
I could have only one ear
It would have to be
Morning Glory corn
I’d shuck it clean
Smear butter
Wrap in foil
Heat at 425
And eat —
Are you a typewriter
Or a rotary...
‘Up-Island Harbor’ by Jean Stone
For fans of Jean Stone’s Vineyard novels, there’s good news. While her engrossing Vineyard series drew to a close with “A Vineyard Season,” she has launched a new one with “Up-Island Harbor.”
Stone has changed...
Erasing the Gerry-Mander
In 1812, the Boston Gazette published a cartoon of a mythical creature, drawn by Elkanah Tisdale, mocking a new voting district in the shape of a salamander — yes, that’s right, a salamander —...
Poet’s Corner: Not More/More
Not More/More
By Jeffrey Agnoli
Not more profits
not more outrage
not more products
not more cages
not more choices
not more thoughtlessness
not more noises
not more selfishness
not more indulgence
not more division
not more ignorance
not more exclusion
not more deals
not more woes ...
Only
more meadows
more...
Islanders Write: Election season
Two members of my writer’s group have books coming out in the next few months. Nicole Galland’s novel “Boy” will be published in late February, comfortably after the inauguration. But Nancy Slonim Aronie’s “Seven...
Poet’s Corner: after the downpour
after the downpour
By Valerie Sonnenthal
frogs hop across the road
springing forward as my husband swerves
front wheels spin a mid-August splash
these are the first frogs of summer
torrential hours passed
sheets of rain obliterate
landscape a blur of grey
some...
Planting seeds of ambiguity
Allison Alsup’s richly detailed, atmospheric novel, “Foreign Seed,” transports us to a fascinating, unfamiliar time and place. Based on history and infused with mystery, her engrossing narrative, set in a turbulent warlord-ridden China, occurs...
Poet’s Corner: There’s a war going on
There’s a war going on
By Nancy Slonim Aronie
There’s a war going on (actually two)
and we’re debating whether Gray Barn Boule
or Orange Peel hot cross buns are better for French toast
There’s a war going on...
Poet’s Corner: so this happened
so this happened
By Michael Oliveira
first light rain of acorns
knocked on the forest floor
summoned summer forward
towards autumn's yet unopened door
cold umber light spread
as the sea upon the shore
i took no comfort there
so turned to quickly...
Poet’s Corner: Autumn
Autumn
By Cecily Bryant
The singing of crickets in unison
herald the coming of the waning light,
Daddy long-legs do their push-ups on my
door frame, and the Joe-Pye weed stand like
tawny sentinels daring the fall to come
I am...
Around the Bookstore: Clock is ticking for summer
And just like that, it’s almost over …
Suddenly, amazingly, summer is winding to an end. And what a summer it has been!
While Kate Feiffer was signing copies of her new book, “Morning Pages,” on...
Lessons from the pandemic
Kathy Ham just released her book, “How We Coped,” which is an illustrated take on Island life during COVID. The proceeds from the book go directly to support the Island Autism Center. In “How...
Writing for your life
This year’s Islanders Write, graciously hosted at Featherstone Center for the Arts, was a stellar array of panel discussions and writing workshops. The event originated 10 years ago when the former publisher of The...
Poet’s Corner: Sometimes
Sometimes
By Dave Plath
I think, I think and I think and
sometimes I can't think at all,
and sometimes I think that the thoughts that I think
aren’t worthy of thinking at all
and sometimes I wonder, I ponder,...
Islanders Write — It’s gametime!
The good news is that if you spent too much money at the fair, you can still afford to come to Islanders Write. The MV Times–sponsored writers’ festival, which kicks off on Sunday, August...
Her Black country
On Thursday, August 8, Alice Randall shared excerpts from her new book “My Black Country,” at Featherstone Center for the Arts, and engaged the audience in conversation. People in the house were also privy...