Who doesn’t love a poet?

Chaucer for his keen observations. Frost for his spare elegance. T.S. Eliot for his dark insight. Billy Collins for the sheer joy and privilege of sailing around the room with him.

The Vineyard is an Island of poets — many poets, many good poets. And the Island celebrates poetry in so many different ways you would be hard-pressed to list them all. There are poetry readings, poetry contests and an Islandwide poet’s society. The Gazette runs a line of poetry across the top of the front page every week. Five years ago West Tisbury named its first poet laureate. The town is now seeking nominations for its third poet laureate, who will be named sometime this spring. Recently Edgartown picked up the melody and named its first poet laureate. The poet’s society is working on a plan to name an Islandwide poet laureate.

So how is it that we ended up with so many poets? Perhaps it’s something in the clean well water most of us drink. Perhaps it’s something about an Island with its endlessly changing landscape and a shoreline that never ends (the last phrase comes from Henry Hough, another poet and the late editor of this newspaper).

On Wednesday night this week the West Tisbury library Speakeasy Series featured an intimate conversation with two celebrated Island poets: Fanny Howe and Jennifer Tseng. Supporters of the library shelled out $125 apiece to see these two women stand before a roaring fire in the dining room at State Road restaurant on a bitterly cold January night, read from their work and talk about the art of writing verse.

And that in itself is pure poetry.