Marion Starling Boyer

Roused

Six lions loll in the grass near the road. When the sky lightens to violet, three females settle side by side and heave waves of guttural moans from their haunches into their chests. The moans crescendo, explode into roars. Slowly, the white sun lifts into a ribboned sky. The lions stretch their throats, vibrate the air five miles away until the day is born. 

stirring breakfast tea
outside the tent
clinks of a tinker bird 

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About the Author

Marion Starling Boyer’s Ice Hours won Michigan State University’s Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize and will be released in January 2023. Boyer has published three other poetry collections and work recently in Modern Haiku, Rabbit, and The Dalhousie Review, among others. Boyer conducts workshops for Lit Cleveland and Lit Youngstown. www.marionstarlingboyer.com.