Warning: Exclamation Point Overusage (!)

It's Finally Here! After agonizing months of delays, the poetry anthology, of which I am a contributor, has an official publish date (Oct. 1st)! Heck yes! I've tried hard to not pee my pants about it because I'm so dang excited, and it took every ounce of my maturity to wait patiently and nonchalantly for my contributor's copy to arrive.

Well, it's here at last, and in celebration, I'd like to share a favorite poem of mine that can be found in the book that I haven't shared here before:

Desert Sheep-herding in the Winter

By Laura Nielson Baxter

Thirty coyotes will draw even the best dog

away from his flock.

I stand at the top of the bluff and watch.

Further, further, he chases coyotes. One then another.

Falling prey to their tricks

despite my calls.

Two hundred sheep under juniper scrub

interrupt thin streams of rain with breathy clouds.

I’ve seen this happen once before, with my grandpa,

but this time I choose not to watch as the wild pack

entices my best dog, of fifteen years, away.

I already know what will happen—he’ll fall, exhausted.

So I train my ear on anything else but his yelps.

There. Above the ravine, a magpie calls through the rain.

There are lots of big names in this book, and it was an honor to be considered good enough to be published alongside these awesome authors! If you would like your own copy of this fantastic anthology so that you can read all of the other incredible pieces, you can pre-order one here.