Poet’s Corner: ‘The Beach at Lambert’s Cove’
The Beach at Lambert’s Cove
By Leroy Hazelton
I believed
In all stars spinning
From the Mouth
And that sea clams,
Loons and strangers wing to paradise,
While your hand,
Intruding on a pope’s disguise,
Traced to a deeper skull
A sea gull’s rowdy...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Opening the Cabin’
Opening the Cabin
By Warren Woessner
We drag our bags to the side door
and hunt for things that don’t work —
big things like the heat and hot water
and little things like burned-out bulbs.
I am putting up...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Vineyard Reality’
Vineyard Reality
By Joan Noëldechen
Every day
Appearing in the sand
Or on the trail
Seemed so surreal
I could not tell
If it was all a dream
Or something constantly changing.
I came home,
But I was not living
In the world.
Joan Noëldechen is...
Poet’s Corner: ‘The Gift’
The Gift
By Jeffrey Agnoli
Though we lean into the pull
of the season
it's hard to say all is well
when we know
with inner sense
some of the worst waits
behind closed doors
within the human heart
yet the dwindling day
promises the...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Crash Course’
Crash Course
By Liz Posen
When I realized my daughter
was going to college
really leaving
not like an extended sleepover
I worried to near panic
that I had not given her
essential life lessons
and embarked on a crash course.
“Was she aware...
Poet’s Corner: ‘The Fall of Day’
The Fall of Day
By Liz Splittgerber
The fall of day
The close of light
The dawn of dark
The rise of night
Autumn embers
Reach black bird's flight
Settled smoke
Wreaths leaf's late blight
Last to bloom
First to blush
Mighty spun web
Failing light's hush
Deeper...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Sometimes’
Sometimes
By Warren Woessner
I sit in my car
and can’t decide where to go.
What will be there
at the there I choose?
Do I look for the loon
or hunt the hawk?
Or just sit here
until the hawk leaves its...
Poet’s Corner: Two Haikus about Daylight Savings Time
Time to set the clocks
back — and the Samaritans
hotline on speed dial.
—Michael Oliveira and Donald Nitchie
..setting the clock back
..a welcome to the darkness
..as if i need help
—Michael Oliveira
Michael Oliveira has lived and worked on...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Gardener’
Gardener
By Don McLagan (for Laura D. Roosevelt)
Carved from the rest of all earth,
staked, planted, tended, defended,
this chosen piece of turf is your garden
and you are its god. Its sod is mindless
of your school, your...
Poet’s Corner: Nancy Slonim Aronie
By Nancy Slonim Aronie
In my rearview mirror I see
a gray
oh it’s black
no it’s silver
I can’t always tell
because of the light
And the time of day
when did cars lose their joy
the baby blue of the ’54...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Given Away’
Given Away
By Peter Lederman
Spread your wings and slowly light
Upon the branch that holds my gaze
And stills the now and captures time
That overshadows all my days
Time’s so patient but regards us not
It waits for return...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Fall’
Fall
By Julian Wise
I no longer see dead flowers
I see the seeds of next year's bloom.
Julian Wise lives in Chilmark. He is a former Calendar writer for The Martha’s Vineyard Times. This piece was inspired...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Worry Stone’
Worry Stone
By Allison Roberts
You have faded and fallen, like a scab from a deep cut healed —
no longer inflamed by my attention. The rawness of you, and
of how I allowed you back in not...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Mucking Stalls’
Mucking Stalls
By Nicole Jackson
The Pitchfork is my partner
And I am the lead
We enter a trance
Muck boots begin to dance
Shuffle shuffle
Then side to side
Collecting the poops
In the shavings they hide
Horse eyes watch
My scoopin’ moves
Sifting,
Swinging, and
Flinging.
Into...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Afternoon Tea’
Afternoon Tea
By Liz Splittgerber
Soft petals adorn
Heirloom laced cloth beneath
Sun captured there
Below dewy branchy wreath
Beyond well-tended garden,
On a rustic wooden table
Glinting silver & flowered china
Spiced cakes & cream, under clad gable
The company has arrived
And is...
Poet’s Corner: First Kiss
First Kiss
By Thomas Broadway Cox
Given not stolen
Welcome not undue
Eyes closed, lips ally
Accept the gift
Honor the giver
The flavor lingers
A first taste
Of a banquet earned
Nothing tastes better
Than love.
Thomas Broadway Cox washed ashore at West Chop at...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Martha’s Vineyard Morning’
Martha's Vineyard Morning
By John Warren McCauley
The seagulls singing seaside songs
On a sweet Martha’s Vineyard morning,
While baby rabbits foraged in the yard,
The wild turkeys were just adorning.
The tom turkey spread his wings,
With brilliant colors that...
Poet’s Corner: ‘assessment’
assessment
By Michael Oliveira
not the bags
never unpacking
beneath my eyes
not the dry river bed
of my forehead
not the turkey neck
pleading for a scarf
nor the crepe flesh
gracing my upper arms;
it's the sudden burst
of silver and white
branches in my...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Summer’
Summer
By George Mills
Finally allowed
to take the tiller —
sailboat on the lawn
It’s noon
I do a little dance
on my shadow
Only an unseen bird
exists
this summer day
Alone in the forest
the breath of my life
like mist
I take a breath
out...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Is This You?’
Is This You?
By Roland Goulart
If you feel you're the best
Superior to all
Incapable of error
Too high up to fall
Able to judge others
As you believe they should be
Unable to accept that which you cannot see
If these...