“Much Morning” by Rikki Santer

After On the James River (1985) by Stan Brodsky

Tender tremors swan up
from the backyard bowels,
pulse of a ravine waking.

Through the nostrils
of front garden
a hummingbird orbits
my socked ankles—
drunk on red yet far of fetch.

On the swell of saddle
I stumble upon my mind pacing—
how to translate a morning effervescing
and that stand of shagbark hickories
proud in sunlight.