Commentary
I pick what’s left
off a wave’s last edge:
blue wood bullet,
two white eyes
and brass rings.
Hooks gone.
Pop, it’s one
you could have used
and lost
like we lost you.
Something in deep
grabbed hold
would not let go —
then the line snapped
and you were gone.
— Warren Woessner
It was almost Labor Day and we were hoping to get through the summer without too much drama at least until we got to the annual I’m Sorry I Called You What I Called You on Broadway in July but I Was Stressed Out dinner, which would come right after. But that was not to be.
Every year we launch 92-year-old Jack Farnsworth’s little wooden skiff and tie it up to the dock so that he can sit down there and look at it and perhaps tell the summer tourists a few lies about his adventures in it some years ago.
True story. It’s early on a Saturday
morning in late August on Main street in Vineyard Haven. The sun is shining down on at least a dozen adults and children taking coffee and munchies back to their boats. They are heading toward Owen Park. The first squawk sounds low and short. Then it starts up and raises its pitch. More like a keen than a commentary. Squawk. Squaaawk. Squaaawkkkk!
Where is it coming from? Up in the trees? On someone’s roof? Concern riffles through the group. An animal is in trouble! A turkey is stuck somewhere!
By the numberless thousands they descend. The birds
arrive as a great host, flying from the northeast, following a sinuous path on invisible, atmospheric currents. The flock appears as a river of birds, curving through the air, with birds pouring forth in a flow that seems unceasing.
The great flocks of migrating tree swallows have arrived upon the plains of Quansoo and elsewhere on the shores of Martha’s Vineyard.
Each morning when boatbuilder Ted Box wakes up, drives to his makeshift warehouse on the Vineyard Haven harbor and climbs the scaffolding to gaze at his 70-foot scow schooner, he is confronted with all the problems of completing a big boat. Ted is 68, a master shipwright, has seen many a craft to the finish, but is looking toward daunting work ahead.
Summer season
Martha’s Vineyard
Riding the ferry in
Perfect sunset
Happy for a new vacation to begin
But I know some things always stay the same
Livingston, Ben and Sally Taylor will all have concerts
Every day
They’ll be coming around againYou pay the grocer
Make mimosas
Go up-Island for the day
You see a poster
On a telephone pole
Ben and Sally Taylor are playing
In Vineyard Haven today
Didn’t they just play there yesterday?