Nantucket Island has been an inspiration to photographers, painters, writers, and poets for centuries. If Nantucket has inspired you to capture the island in verse, enter your poem in our annual Nantucket Poetry Contest. The winning poet will receive a $250 prize, and his or her work will be published in the print and online editions of the 2015-2016 Nantucket Directory.
Poets may enter up to three previously unpublished poems, written in English, that are about any aspect of Nantucket Island or life on Nantucket.
There is no entry fee, but poems must be submitted with a signed entry form listing the author’s name, address, email address, and phone number. You can find the entry form at www.NantucketDirectory.com.
Submissions must be received no later than March 10, 2015. The winner will be notified no later than April 15, 2015. Last year, this poem by Heather M. Browne was chosen from dozens of submissions:
The Little Gray Lady of the Sea
Drifts, wrapped patiently in lacy shawl,
draped soft around her shoulders – neck.
Her tousled hair twirling and twisting in eastern wind.
Lightened from time and sun.
Ocean pearls drip gently around her neck.
Low grey heels click cadence down cobblestone roads,
seashells trickling in the tide.
The gulls soar overhead misting through foggy days.
She comes each day, listening for lighthouse calls,
sounding the fisherman home.
She gathers driftwood washed ashore from sea.
Presents she kindly accepts, carrying home until tomorrow’s tide.