by Ann B. Day
I walk
where the wetness of the woods
is pungent in the fog,
where red osier punctuates
brown marsh grass,
and April light silvers
puddles in dirt road ruts,
where raucous crows soar
on warm mountain winds,
where juncos pipe piccolo songs
in willow blooms,
and woodland frogs emerge
to mate in shallow pools.
I walk
in a rain that fills
my senses with anticipation
and a grouse’s mysterious crescendo
pulsates through the waking woods
to excite my very soul.
Ann B. Day moved into a cottage at the RiverMead Retirement Community in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 2013. She and her family owned a working guest farm in Mad River Valley of Vermont, where they raised Highland cattle, taught skiing, and held writing retreats for 50 years. She belongs to the Monadnock Writers’ Group and the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. Ann writes a nature column for the weekly Valley Reporter and publishes nature books and annual engagement calendars with her poetry and photos. Her poems have been printed in many publications, including Time Magazine, The Lyric, Green Mountain Trading Post, New England Memories, and The Poets’ Touchstone.
Jeffrey C. Dickler, a native of Brooklyn, New York, was transplanted to the Midwest after his formative years. His love of the outdoors grew from summers at his grandfather’s Camp Iroquois on Frost Pond in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. By age four he already had hiked to the peak of Mount Monadnock. Later family trips to the American Southwest and National Parks cemented his love of exploring nature with a pack on his back and camera in hand. In 2017 he retired to the Monadnock region. He lives with his wife, Deni, and their four-legged companion, Willy Waggins, in Rindge, New Hampshire.
Smoky Quartz 