April very well might be the cruelest month of all, as T.S. Eliot said. But the bright spot is it is Poetry Month. April 29 is Poem In Your Pocket Day. Gather some of your own, or some of your favorites, and be prepared to read them or recite them to anyone you run into. I pledge to be sitting outside at Waterside restaurant, ready and willing to hear all your favorites. Let the iambic pentameter begin!

Many of our high school kids have done great things. Senior student Hardy Eville has earned three gold key awards in photography. Senior Kayleigh Bollin has also scored a gold key award.

Pathways ARTS is still offering a writing and poetry series with open floor readings. Programs are in person or on Zoom. No one needs to go without. There is also a mixed media art display at Pathways, located at 9 State Road in Chilmark.

Ashley Byrd, my former neighbor who is now married and living in Texas with Sam and their three children, announces that the famous bluebonnet flowers are out. Ashley and the kids are enjoying them. They sent me pictures.

Another Island child who strayed, artist Gretchen Baer, writes from Bisbee, Ariz., that she was commissioned to paint the peace pole of the Bisbee Rotary Club. It looks great. Her young art students are continuing, with permission on both sides of the fence, to paint the border wall, or as I refer to it, Trump’s folly. They are putting sky, trees, clouds and flowers back where they belong. My goal in life is to visit Gretchen and her kids at Studio Mariposa.

Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish are back at The Ritz every Wednesday night from 8 to 10 p.m. Petey Berndt is opening Coop de Ville on April 21. And Adam Epstein is preparing a collection of class act musicians for our summer entertainment. Now to adjust the temperature for the season.

With great sadness I must inform you that Mark Santon’s mother Evelyn has passed. She was a spunky, delightful lady.

Angela Murphy, her mother Patsy and niece Jordan announce that Charlie Murphy — their brother, son and Jordan’s Dad — passed in Virginia. Our sincere condolences to the Murphy family.

The birthday bandwagon pulled along Grace Thomas Toscano and Luanne Johnson on March 30. March 31 was claimed by Doug Ulwick. April 1 smiled on Tina Velazquez, Kelci Greer, Jack O’Malley, Whitney Vic, Robin Rebello Meader, Richard Paradise and Catherine Elizabeth Young Buck. And on April 5, Bill Carter took the cake. Many happy returns.