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.