for Sylvia
by Rodger Martin
Early morning riser, sylvan
like shadowed solitude of dawn
like the glide of owl or heron,
a wisp of mist, a spotted fawn
moving with padded soles, angel
to pileated knocking, chime
in the thrush’s fluted ramble,
perfumed with scent of knotty pine:
Each morning of the sun-lipped week
she comes to listen, not to speak.
Rodger Martin’s third poetry volume, The Battlefield Guide, (Hobblebush) uses locations on battlefields of the Civil War to reflect upon America today. Small Press Review selected The Blue Moon Series, (Hobblebush) as a bi-monthly pick of the year. He received an Appalachia poetry award, a New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Fiction Fellowship, and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Humanities. He has been translated in On the Monadnock: New Pastoral Poetry released in China, 2007. He serves as an editor in The Granite State Poetry Series.
Smoky Quartz 