By Vineyard Light : Poems

This beautiful collection of poems and photographs of the landscape of Martha's Vineyard is a serene and noble tribute to this lovely island. This book portrays the island's character more than any other volume on the subject, through the combination of Rose Styron's evocative lines and Craig Dripps's stunning images.

Styron evokes the rhythmic waves caressing the beaches, the lighthouses and fairways, and the lantern-lit night. She speaks of the oxen at Brookside Farm, foggy Chilmark Pond, and the limbs of the ancient oak in West Tisbury with a love of place born in the soul and painted in words.

The photographs capture in color the silvered tones of the poetry, conveying the spirit of Martha's Vineyard in all seasons. Feel the bright wash of sunlight during the late summer afternoon and the blustery gusts of autumn-- the life of this enchanted island is palpable in these pages.

KATAMA
This antique landscape rubbed by hand
shines through the mist like silvered hay.
Its hewn rail fence, greyed barn, sweet fields
where dusty birds hide, startled, focus day.
--Rose Styron

Rose Styron is a poet, journalist, and human rights activist. She and her husband, writer William Styron, have spent extended summers on Martha's Vineyard since 1959. Her previous books include From Summer to Summer, Thieves' Afternoon, and Modern Russian Poetry. Her poems and essays have been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies.

Craig Dripps has summered on the Vineyard all his life, and his photographs have been exhibited in Vineyard galleries. He has taught at the Haverford School for twenty-three years.

Peter Sacks is a professor of English and creative writing at The Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of two collections of poetry, In These Mountains and Promised Lands, and of The English Elegy: Studies in the Genre from Spenser to Yeats. He lives in Baltimore and on Martha's Vineyard.

George Plimpton is a celebrated author and the editor of The Paris Review.