Finches in the Gloaming
a dark journey through autumn
by
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As It Starts To Snow
A coal train shrieks,
departing distant mine
amplified by
building stratus clouds.
Shimmering ivory curtains,
born of
violet sky,
go unhung against
the black and silent hills.
In festive red and green
the holly trees,
unaware the ceramic chill
is on the way,
offer fruit and shelter
to the cedar waxwings,
in disapproval of the redbirds
in the fray.
The thought occurs
that life is like the waiting,
for the gift
of blizzard
winter’s heart bestows,
the magic of the dance
when blossoms eddy,
across evening shadows
as it starts to snow.
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About the Book
Finches in the Gloaming, a dark journey through autumn, is a collection of poetry spawned from life in the coal mining settlements of rural Appalachia. “My father had to work bent over in an area that was only 42 inches in height, manually chipping away coal with a pick and loading it onto coal cars with a shovel,” Xavier Somerfield says. “The mountains have given us more than chunks of black carbon for our furnaces; they have blessed us with a culture that has prevailed through the harshest of conditions.” Finches in the Gloaming is a reflection of that life. Xavier Somerfield incorporates shadows and seasons, mountain life and the passing of time into an ingenious blend. “Long have these mountains bled…” Xavier Somerfield writes in “Mountain Sorrow”. Finches in the Gloaming also contains other noteworthy poems including, “Montani Semper Liberi”, “Walking the Fence Line”, “Autumn Detaches”, “When Father was Late”, and “The Mines”. Xavier Somerfield is the author of Coming Through the Wintersweet, © 2006, ISBN 1-4241-2511-1, Analemma Days, © 2006, ISBN 1-4241-5344-1 and Ridges of the Clouds, a Civil War novel, © 2008, ISBN 1-4343-6766-2 .
About the Author
Xavier Somerfield, an award winning poet, was born the son of a coal miner in the mountains of Appalachia. “I majored in science and got a minor in English,” Somerfield says, “I taught college chemistry and eventually became a computer programmer, but my love of writing dwelt close to my heart.” After teaching at a university in Maryland, Somerfield took a hiatus from the hectic life and backpacked across the country. His travels took him to the mountains of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee and to Vermont and Colorado. He currently resides near Nashville, Tennessee.