Three Roans in the Shallows, One of Them Blue (Paperback)

A selection from fifty years of Merrill Gilfillan's lyrical and vivid poetry. Merrill Gilfillan's Three Roans in the Shallows, One of Them Blue: Selected Poems draws from more than a dozen volumes since his first book appeared in 1970, concluding with three short "poetic diaries" in the tradition of Japanese haibun. Wistful, joyful, resonant with "Season through place, / Place in season, in place," the hundred various poems—landscapes, epistles, "tunes meant for whistling"—are propelled throughout by affinity, reflection, and requital. 

I think of you
as the tarts come out
of the oven—Ohio butternuts
from Ohio butternut
trees—and last summer's
ash seeds rattle
in the wind beyond
the window: small
bat-of-the-eye pleasures
of winter. Deep. Distilled.