Robbi Nester

Robbi Nester is the author of four books of poetry: a chapbook, Balance (White Violet, 2012), and three collections–A Likely Story (Moon Tide, 2014), Other-Wise (Kelsay, 2017), and a forthcoming book, Narrow Bridge (Main Street Rag, 2019), which is currently available on advance sale from the publisher at https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/narrow-bridge/robbi-nester. She has also edited two anthologies– The Liberal Media Made Me Do It! (Nine Toes, 2014) and an Ekphrastic E-book, Over the Moon: Birds, Beasts, and Trees–celebrating the photography of Beth Moon, which was published as a special issue of Poemeleon Poetry Journal. Her poems, reviews, articles, and blog posts have appeared widely in journals, anthologies, and blogs, most recently Pirene’s Fountain, Tipton Poetry Review, Rise Up Review, Ghost Town, North of Oxford, and three anthologies: Collateral Damages, Dark Ink, and Poets Respond to the Wall.

Field Notes

The voice of the bird

in the maple

is bigger than his body.

He trills the same six notes repeatedly,

but with such zest, they might be a symphony.

He makes those six notes do

for every nuance, every mood,

or perhaps he only needs

to tell how it feels to sing,

warm sunlight on his wings,

flying under low clouds.

He learned his narrow repertoire

and now will teach it to his sons.

His needs are few.

The sun through lacy leaves,

a likely nesting spot,

secure and sheltered.

A slanting shield of rain against the bark

on gray spring days

plays counterpoint to his song’s

simple phrase.