Neil Shepard
poet, essayist, and professor of creative writing; received fellowships from Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the MacDowell Colony; author of eight books of poetry; work has appeared in Antioch Review, AWP Chronicle, Boulevard, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Harvard Review, New American Writing, New England Review, North American Review, Ontario Review, Paris Review, Shenandoah, Small Press Reviews, Southern Review, TriQuarterly, and others
A Short Excerpt From Vermont Exit Ramps II
ROMAINE TENNEY (excerpt)
May 17, 2:00 p.m. Full sun, cumulus clouds
Hello black fly. Thanks for the welcome.
Now I know what Romaine Tenney cursed
and loved here on Tenney Hill Road: the sting
inside blossoming, the black bother
at the center of the eye bent on spring beauty.
Tenney knew what was coming, and it came:
the interstate that brought the commerce in,
and with it, the quick-buck with its quick
made and quick-fading values. It didn’t
value Tenney’s enterprise on a hill farm
that was collapsing around him. He lived
in the mud-room ell of his old family home…
© Neil Shepard, from Vermont Exit Ramps II (Green Writers Press/Sun Dog Poetry)
BEAR POND BOOKS
PHOENIX BOOKSTORES
EBENEZER BOOKS
THE GALAXY BOOKSHOP
ANTIDOTE BOOKS