Poet’s Corner
The Crash of the MV Nantucket
Winter 1977
By E. Hass
This captain has had way too much to drink
The fog rolls in; he cannot see the shore.
We pray the Vineyard ferry will not sink.
The water is...
Poet’s Corner
her realm
By Michael Oliveira
she sees the ghosts
of grey cats
from the corners
of her eyes;
her former
present and
future selves
met
on a stairwell
in the not so
distant past;
the trinity
completed;
she yearns for
one not yet born
I stand at
the curb as
her parade
goes by
Michael...
Poet’s Corner
Everywhere There’s a Path
By Zach Wiesner
Everywhere there’s a path
There’s a traveler.
Everywhere there’s a hill
There’s a climber.
Everywhere there’s a beginning
There’s a beginner.
Everywhere there’s a beginner,
There’s hope.
Zach Wiesner lives in West Tisbury.
Poets with a connection to...
Poet’s Corner
Wicked wind, lovely breeze
By Nancy Langman
The wind whips
And twists and swirls
Bending trees
And scaring squirrels
Its vicious sound
Keeps all awake
Boats in dock
So much at stake
It knows no grace
Respects no trees
But over time
Becomes just a breeze
Nancy Langman...
Poet’s Corner
Grievances
By Alida O’Loughlin
Grievances, they now have gripped the country
Like a vise around its heart
And in anger and resentment
Tearing all of us apart
Grievances, where do they come from?
In the word, there is the Grief
Feelings that...
Poet’s Corner
Sleep
By Liz Kelner Pozen
The last good night’s sleep I had
was over twenty years ago
when we visited friends
in the mountains
up north.
We had a lovely day
of walking in the woods
feeding fish in the pond
eating cookies on...
Poet’s Corner
Yesterday
By Michael Oliveira
opened mouth twirling
in my driveway to catch a
snowflake on my tongue
Michael Oliveira has lived and worked on Martha’s Vineyard for decades. He currently lives in East Falmouth.
Poets with a connection to Martha’s...
Poet’s Corner
A Week Later
after January 6, 2021
By Don McLagan
A week later
with live coverage
videos
and selfies
we see where we have arrived
shit-smeared footprints down the Capitol hallway
confederate flags paraded through the Rotunda
“Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirts roaming the chambers
rioters with...
Poet’s Corner
the giving tempest
By Ellen Martin Story
battered
a winter window
whistles sweetly
as ice sprites crochet
crystals on its
fissured panes
Ellen Martin Story is a member of the Cleaveland House Poets. Her work has previously appeared in the Poet’s Corner....
Poet’s Corner
Collective Calamity
By Gail DeNicola
I’m a country girl now
Walking the dirty Covid-cleared streets of New York
Snippets of phone conversations shoot by
All about Covid, tested? Not? Visiting? Bringing food?
What kind of holiday is this so glad...
Poet’s Corner
Just when I thought how
surrendered and at peace I was
with your choice to go gently
into this God night
a fierce wind rose up in my gut
a hurricane of now what
came pouring down the gutters
of my...
Poet’s Corner
Quarantine November
By Beth Parker
Tension headache,
nervous gut, plus scratchy throat
brought on by furnace heat and
nighttime mouth-breathing
all adds up to feeling crappy enough
to suspect the dread contagion,
which fear only tightens the vise-grip
on shoulders and neck.
Do I...
Poet’s Corner
Weekends
By Linda Vancour
Winter has arrived outside our house
The chilly weather as quiet as a mouse
We are upstairs snuggled in our bed
Ignoring the cold creeping into our head
Our ears and nose getting red bright
Oh no...
Poet’s Corner
Before Christmas
By Clark Myers
Early December now
and dark before three.
Let’s toboggan the weeks
to the shortest day.
The snow will raft
over the curved prow
and sting our faces
through scarves and
pulled down hats.
And cake on Bedouin eyes
slit against the...
Poet’s Corner
Winter Solstice 2020
By Don McLagan
Like a gray wave flooding ashore,
winter spills over the solstice.
Holiday lights brighten the door
but greet no family. Virus swirls,
ballots churn and justice
skitters like a candy wrapper
blown across the beach.
Unfelt, the...
Poet’s Corner
A Plover Nests in the Dune
By Lucas Thors
In the beach grass
where the sloping sand shifts with ants
and the pup escapes from his owner’s leash
The Plover chick rests in the scrape.
The mother scatters shells and...
Poet’s Corner
The Thrill Will Return
By Fan Ogilvie
If I should die before I wake
Show me the paths I love to take.
When all the COVID has fizzled like
The body of the wicked witch of Oz
There will be...
Poet’s Corner
Two Poems by Zach Wiesner
I Am Made in God’s Image
Clearly I am made in God’s image.
I don’t take care of my belongings
either.
Economy of Words
I don’t seek
economy of words
Perhaps I’m not
by nature a poet
But a...
Poet’s Corner
A Poem inside Our Long-Distance Relationship
From Martha’s Vineyard
By James Miller
When I think of this lovely earth
and how a pen has given birth
to the bright language of the stars,
I know then that you are not...
Poet’s Corner
Veterans Day Commemoration
By Linda Zeltzer
The commemoration I speak of
is life and war as well
our men and women
who fight the wars
return or not
from hell.
Their sacrifice of life
or limb or sight or sound as well
our men...