The Oar Interferes

Amy Nash

I don't remember if we told 
our mother. Told our father. 
Told on ourselves as if it were ours to tell.

A babysitter drags three girls into a night 
squall, drops them one by one 
into a dinghy, pushes it into the whitecapped void.

Thunder, lightning, East Chop Light’s green
flash a blur, she rows against the rock
and roll of waves and silent children.

Doesn't someone notice keel graffiti
scratched into the rocky beach? Wet clothes
bunched on a chair in the dormitory loft? Terror 

in my sisters’ eyes
when our parents try to salvage
their marriage with a family sailing lesson.

The one that makes the On-Time ferry off time. 

Broken concrete steps from the porch 
to a shrinking walkway, the waterline inches 
closer each year. The real reason 

our grandparents sell the beach house
to a stranger, not
our mother. Not our father.

When I smell damp smoke, 
I think of homes that are gone—
some condemned, some restored, others pure 

fabrication. As threatened islands disappear,
new ones come into view, for sale signs
tipped facedown in the sand.

The Science

“The Oar Interferes” explores questions related to the cause and effect of the hydrodynamic erosion process particularly as it relates to the island of Martha’s Vineyard within a parallel narrative related to the erosion of an individual family. Natural erosional processes, including the impact of wave energy and tidal forces, have continually changed the shape of the island. Climate change is accelerating coastal erosion as sea levels rise and storms intensify. As waves overwash beaches, they transport sand into coastal ponds and cause the shoreline to shift inward. Factors such as wind speed, fetch, and duration, which in turn affect wave height, period, and direction influence wave dynamics.

According to Lucas Thors (“Our Island Is Shrinking,” Martha’s Vineyard Times, June 16, 2021) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that “by 20250, up to $106 billion worth of coastal property will likely be below sea level (if we continue on the current path).” Ecologists continue to explore ways to halt or slow down the process of such erosion, including creating more agricultural land to help hold the soil together, working to restore dunes, managing retreat with stored sand banks, and merely letting nature takes its course. 

The Poet

Amy Nash has lived in every northern state between Massachusetts and Minnesota (except for Wisconsin and Michigan), resulting in brackish poetry that mixes the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes, Atlantic Ocean, and everything between. Her poems have appeared in a range of journals and anthologies, including If Bees Are Few: A Hive of Bee Poems and The Heart of All That Is: Reflections on Home. Amy has given readings on Minnesota Public Radio and at various venues and events, including Bowery Poetry in New York City. Website: https://arambler.com/

Next poem: The Oval Window by Kamea Lessoway