Unofficially the first poet laureate of the Island was Dionis Coffin Riggs, who began hosting a poetry group at the Cleaveland House in West Tisbury in 1960.
Here is Dionis’s poem Wait, Spring, which was published in the April 19, 1996 Gazette:
Photography
The annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Kids Derby brought families to the Oak Bluffs Steamship wharf early Sunday morning. Even before the sun had risen, the two hour fishing competittion was underway.
September 18, 2022
The sights and sounds of September measure the Island year better than any calendar. Look to the longer evening shadows under a sinking sun, to the blooming dahlias and to the song of crickets.
September 17, 2022
Families held hands and comforted one another as they gathered around the perimeter of the Edgartown Lighthouse for the annual Ceremony of Remembrance.
September 17, 2022
Fifty mostly Venezuelan migrants boarded VTA buses to take them to the ferry and then to Joint Base Cape Cod where they would be provided shelter and humanitarian support.
September 16, 2022
Action during the first week of the 77th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby finds fishermen crowding jetties, surfcasting, and heading out in boats to try their luck offshore.
September 16, 2022
A humanitarian effort was underway Thursday on the Vineyard to shelter and feed 50 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia who arrived unexpectedly by plane Wednesday afternoon.
September 15, 2022
Light wind caused the cancellation of the 45th George Moffett Race on Saturday, but sailors brouyyght their boats into Vineyard Haven's outer harbor regardless.
September 15, 2022
The Martha's Vineyard Horse Council had a Hunter Pace through the state forest this weekend.
September 12, 2022
The Martha's Vineyard Wind Festival continued this weekend in Ocean Park on a clear, blue-sky day, despite scant wind.
September 12, 2022
The annual Aquinnah Powwow at Aquinnah Circle began Saturday with the Grand Entry, a procession of dancers and drummers.
September 12, 2022
With a shake of his bell, Steve Amaral opened the weigh station in Edgartown Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and the 77th Martha’s Vineyard Bass and Bluefish Derby got underway.
September 11, 2022
Call them the last days of summer or the first days before the official arrival of fall.
September 11, 2022
Weathered fishing shacks, stacks of lobster pots and piles of crushed blue mussels, quahaugs and oysters everywhere are the signs you are in Menemsha. People beach, bring their boats in the harbor and kayak in the pond.
September 10, 2022
Cinema enthusiasts and filmmakers mingled outside the film center for the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society’s International Film Festival opening party.
September 9, 2022
It's the time of year when everyone want to get the blues — bluefish, that is, along with false albacore and bonito. The seventy-seventh annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby starts at 12:01 a.m.
September 8, 2022
Island students went back to school today and the rhythms of a new year could be seen all over the Vineyard as kids waited at the end of roads and driveways for school buses to arrive, and parents sat in drop-off lines at elementary schools.
September 6, 2022