The poems of Woodpecker are set largely in the Himalayan foothills where they were written. This is reflected in the way hills, trees, birds, insects and the young river frequent the poet's universe, as do the children whom he encounters or works with. And yet the poetry, as it must do, gently aspires to rise beyond place and circumstance: to "begin in a vase, then fly", like the fledgelings in the final poem of the collection. Few of these poems are overtly metaphysical, but they are concerned implicitly with observing the self in its interactions with the "outer world".

Siddhartha Menon's poems have appeared in The Poetry Chain, The Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, The Little Magazine, Namaste, and Both Sides of the Sky: Post Independence Indian Poetry in English. Menon teaches at the Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh, where he enjoys discussing poetry and other things with his students. This is his first collection of poems.

**Contents and Sample Pages**