Saturday book feature — Sonnet Stanzas — Ralph La Rosa

The Muse of Concord

In summer woods, her springtime voice matured
as beckoning notes that mystify—a creature
thrumming when at rest, Tee-chur, Tee-chur,
but sweetly lyrical in flight. A bird
impetuous and speedy, songs assured,
she could elude, confound this woodland seeker,
who sensed the ovenbird was nature’s speaker,
though, he knew, she never said a word.
Until the chill of fall, he would be sure
the warbler calling from its hidden site
was midday’s sonic, acrobatic blur
that chased the sun, then dipped into the night.
Although her voices faded with the fall,
on winter days he still could hear her call.

by Ralph La Rosa from Sonnet Stanzas (White Violet Press, 2013)

Cover: William Michael Harnett

buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Sonnet-Stanzas-Ralph-Rosa/dp/0615834256/