Pioneer Species

This collection of poems from Vermont farmer Ross Thurber is divided into four sections: "Green Popplewood," "Sunburnt Juniper," "Stag Horn Sumac," and "Snow Melt, Black Brook." Each section represents a seasonal form of succession that is both literal and abstract. Ultimately the poems in this manuscript have been winnowed to represent a narrative that echoes the idea that, like a lyric poem, stability is only a moment in time--one to be cherished.

Ross Thurber's poems have appeared in Bloodroot Literary Magazine, Chrysalis Reader, and Vermont Life; they are anthologized in So Little Time (2014), published by Green Writers Press. He was awarded an Emily Mason Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center in 2012. Ross lives in Brattleboro, Vermont, with his family and owns and operates Lilac Ridge Farm, a third-generation organic dairy and diversified hill farm nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains. Pioneer Species is his first full-length collection of poems.