Nantucket Essays

Nantucket Essay, We the People
Nantucket Essays

We the People

by Robert P. Barsanti I took the wrong turn today. I was driving out to Madaket and headed behind the Boy’s and Girl’s Club and up Pleasant Street when the time of the season, a Red Defender 90 with the top off, came to a halt in front of me. […]

Quaker Meeting House | Nantucket, MA
Nantucket Essays

Mending the World

by Robert P. Barsanti Every Sunday, at 11:30, I realize I am late for church. I come by this feeling honestly. My family came to St. Marie Goretti’s late as a regular habit, so much so that the Pastor had the wise idea that if he made my father a […]

Nantucket Essays

Building Sets for a Two-Week Film

~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ In the last week, we have had our share of rain out here on the outermost dune. Those tropical downpours that usually spend themselves in North Carolina or, at least, on the mainland, have slipped up a stalled front and dumped inches of rain. […]

Nantucket Essay | Nantucket, MA
Nantucket Essays

A Walk with a Not Good Dog

~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ Summer takes a while to settle into the island. For most of New England, Memorial Day weekend means finding the cooler, a swimsuit that still fits, and a lake. The Red Sox are still in first place, the grill just got its gas tank […]

Breeze Bar + Cafe at The Nantucket Hotel | Nantucket, MA
Nantucket Essays

Fire and Rain

~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ I was lucky enough to sit on the back porch of the Nantucket Hotel on Saturday evening, well out of the passing rain showers and white shirted winos on the street. Instead, I looked into the bottom of glass of bourbon and heard “Fire […]

Song of the Open Road
Nantucket Essays

Song of Youth

~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, Walt Whitman has joined the crew. He is not old. He does not have wild hair, a fifty year beard, and leather leggings. As far as I can tell, […]

Orion Departing | Nantucket Essay
Nantucket Essays

Orion Departing

~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ I have walked passed the snow shovels for weeks. One of them dates back into the eighties, when you could sell shovels that had a teflon coating and would hold pounds of snow; a shovel for the young man who scorned the Nautilus machines […]

Season of Sticks
Nantucket Essays

Season of the Stick

~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ The wind builds. I stand at the door, over a mug of Pumpkin Spice coffee and the birches are clattering together, the clouds tumble overhead, and an uncomfortable and expensive whistle rises from the sliding doors on the porch. My Boon Companion stands on […]