by Ron Lavalette

Currier’s Market hasn’t opened yet,
standing silent by the gravel roadside,
hand-lettered cardboard signs
in almost every dark window
proclaiming fresh fruit for sale
—even out of season watermelon—
fishing licenses sold here,
license to hunt, post office
window opens at eight,
finest steak in the county,
venison cut to order,
no better bargains anywhere, no
cheaper beer from here to the border.

I was not born here, did not grow up
beside the grey early morning river
flowing into town, past the Blue Seal
Feeds silo, behind the rusted sawmill,
and out past the padlocked market;
but I’m home at last this morning,
driving through Glover at six.
The gravel meanders, rises; I marvel
at the unlit windows, the cardboard
signs. Like them, I am reflected
in the low sibilance of sunrise.

Ron Lavalette is a very widely published poet living on the Canadian border in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. His first chapbook, Fallen Away, is now available from Finishing Line Press. His poetry and short prose has appeared extensively in journals, reviews, and anthologies ranging alphabetically from Able Muse and the Anthology of New England Poets through the World Haiku Review. A reasonable sample of his published work can be viewed at EGGS OVER TOKYO: http://eggsovertokyo.blogspot.com