Melissa Montimurro

APPROXIMATION

(for a woodpecker) Thimble, rowboat, spoon: the promise to contain some necessary thing - a thumb, slim needle of fish, some sugar, salt. But what will hold the persistence of this bird, this all-day drumming? What alphabet will be cup and bowl enough to carry it? Melissa Montimurro lives in rural northwestern New Jersey, where she teaches poetry workshops in the schools. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of journals and magazines, in print and online, including Literal Latte, Kalliope, Tundra, Three Candles, ForPoetry, Bugle, Snowy Egret, Iris, The Comstock Review, Runes, American Tanka, Clay Palm Review, Square Lake, and others. Her chapbook, "Onion Festival Seeks Queen," was published by Pudding House this year.

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