Idyll for a Vanishing River, poems by Jeffrey C. Alfier

Congratulations to Jeffrey C. Alfier — author of the Silver Birch Press release The Wolf Yearling — on the publication of his new poetry collection, Idyll for a Vanishing River (Glass Lyre Press, November 2013).

BOOK DESCRIPTION: These poems are elegiac, dusty, and uncover for us—like fossils peaking from the rocky ground—culture’s achievements nestled inside its failings, the simple truth “that borders are illusions, maps a myth.”

In these resplendent, painstakingly crafted poems, Alfier once again gives authentic voice to his beloved Southwestwhere “ravens climb through a blade of final light,” “sere wind grits and cuts / with a raw sound,” “landscape is littered with spent omens,” and “an animal’s dying screech pitches high.” The haunts Alfier so vividly and memorably captures are not only quintessentially “Southwestern” but also the universal human “haunts” of love, loss, and yearning. 

LARRY D. THOMAS, 2008 Texas Poet Laureate

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jeffrey C. Alfier is a five-time Pushcart nominee and the author of The Wolf Yearling (Silver Birch Press, 2013) and Idyll for a Vanishing River (Glass Lyre Press, 2013). He is the founder and co-editor of San Pedro River Review.

Idyll for a Vanishing River, poems by Jeffrey C. Alfier is available at Amazon.com.

River, poem by Tamara Madison

RIVER

Poem by Tamara Madison

In dreams my roads fill
with clear sweet water
flowing gently; there is nothing
to carry, I can swim
beyond the flooded buildings,
through countryside covered
with this vast river
to anywhere I need to go
where warm cool water lifts,
surrounds me; it is silver,
it is gray, it has no color, it shines
like fish, is dark and soft
like sleep.  When I wake
the bell pricks like pins
and I want that water
to fill my veins and carry me
on that river back to sleep.

Note: “River” and two other poems by Tamara Madison will be featured in the upcoming Silver Birch Press release SILVER: An Anthology of Eclectic Poetry & Prose.

Photo: “The Tetons and the Snake River” (1942) by Ansel Adams