Edgartown

Like each sea captain’s home must be surrounded

by the white picket fence of a whale’s jaw full of teeth

over which morning glory vines grow like scrimshaw.

Like the White Cliffs of Dover must be rebuilt to welcome ships,

where houses stand like blocks of marble on Main Street,

and the glass fan window is a pale British Sunrise of sorts.

And the widow’s walk is a wooden plank a woman paces

back and forth, back and forth while the wind washes over,

and all the roofs she sees below are overturned boats in the blue.

— Nancy Anne Miller

Nancy Anne Miller was born in Bermuda. Her poems have been published internationally. She writes about her homeland and returns there often. She is a poet in residence at the Martha’s Vineyard Writer’s residency.