The Maier Museum of Art
at Randolph College

“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.