August 20 is the deadline to sign up for the online open mic August 23.
Sea Breeze
Alas! the flesh is sad; the books I’ve read already —
O to run away! To flee! I feel with birds their giddy
Flights between unknowns: sea-foams and skies!
And nothing, not old gardens mirrored in bright eyes,
Can now hold back this heart — o sea-drenched nights!
Nor, on this empty paper, lamp-light’s
Desert clarity, whose whiteness keeps it undefiled;
Chappy Shadow Walk
I took a stroll this morning, before the sun would shine,
down Cape Pogue Ave to Chappy Road, and met a good friend of mine.
Across Dike Bridge and to the beach, we stopped a while to rest,
and each time I turned to look for him, he was always to the west.
We walked along in silence, but I had a lot to say,
past Poucha Pond along the shore until we reached Katama Bay.
Winner’s Circle
I’m trying to rhyme the word “Vineyard;”
Thank goodness it isn’t a sin word.
Unlike that Nantucket
Where oaths fill a bucket,
We keep our frustrations all inward.
— Eileen Maley
•
A man with no key to Quansoo
His paltry investments did rue
With portfolio tanked
That bright shining bank
Could only be reached by canoe.
— Beth Parker
•
Tom
They broke the mold
When he came out
One look was all
You need
A singular
Relentless soul
In every word
And deed
He fished by trade
But gifts he brought
Whenever he’s ashore
Pianos tickled
With his ways
Oysters for evermore
Bless the soul of
Tommy O
Bless his heart indeed
He rambled
And he lusted
Yo
Northeast wind blowin’ whoo whoo
Rain and sleet with wet mixed in snow
The ducks were flyin’ fast and low.
Bam, bam, I heard him down in Quenames Cove
Had to be D.P., wouldn’t you know.
Not long after in the murky dusk
A camouflaged figure with several ducks
Cold and wet right to the skin
But when he got near I could see his grin.
Said hey there you, how did you do?
Behind his eyes the part of him
That always knew the joke
Till at the end the only thing he needed
Was a smile.
— Gerry Storrow, from Requiem
Dan Aronie died early last Friday morning at his home in Vineyard Haven. He was 38. Dan had suffered for much of his life with both diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
