In her first book of poetry, In Winter I Burn Poems, Diana Lischer brings to life a vibrant visual landscape that stretches from her home in the Green Mountains of Vermont, to the mystical Southwest, to the villages of Mexico and beyond. Organized around the four seasons of New England, each poem is a sensory meditation: cozy fires during the long winter, mushrooms in damp spring, bright flowers in sweltering summer, and bountiful apple harvests in fall. At times sensuous and subtle, magical and mundane, Lischer’s poems capture nature’s hidden moments, transforming the everyday into a rich sensory feast.
Featured Poem from the Collection: “Dreaming of Apples”
(This poem won the Ralph Nadding Hill Literary Award for 2012,
published in Vermont Life Magazine.)
I dream of apples like some people dream of money, love and success.
I desire apples: round, glistening and scented like a mountain morning;
a treasure chest of garnets, rubies and golden globes of perfect fruit:
Hudson’s Golden Gem, Black Oxford, Roxbury Russet.
I dream of apples in the winter, when the world is sleeping.
Apples waiting to be pruned before the arrival of the carnival of bee hives,
their colored boxes alerting our bear-of-a-dog to beware of bees.
I dream of apples in the spring, when apple blossoms shiver,
shaking their pink confetti over intoxicated bees buzzing,
careening in frantic circuitry of bee-lines to flowers soft with pollen.
In summer, the fruit grows plump like well-fed children
playing in the sun, cheeks flushed from the exertion of ripening.
I dream of their fruition, and my desire for apples grows stronger:
Sheep’s Nose, Blue Permain, Hubbardston Nonesuch.
I dream that the fruit will bear me to ecstasy-
to pie, perhaps to dream of more voluptuous fruit,
the sweet-tart crunch of taut apple flesh.
In fall, the trees beckon with perfumed temptation,
their apples overbearing, overwhelming:
Holstein, Esopus, Maiden’s Blush.
Dreaming of apples—
only harvest means anything to me.
About the Author
Diana Lischer is a farmer, published poet and writer, painter, knitter, and avid gardener who has lived in Southeastern Vermont since 1976. Her poetry has appeared in Vermont Life, The Larcom Review, and three times in the Anthology of New England Writers. Her reviews and essays have appeared on Vermont Public Radio, The Brattleboro Reformer, The Commons, Art New England, and in Emily Mason’s art book, The Fifth Element, published by George Braziller, New York. Her poem, “If Margaret Sanger Sang a Song” was set to music by composer Lawrence Siegel and performed by the a cappella group, Fem Amie.
SPECS
Poetry
Softcover
Trim Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Page Count: 94
Price: $16.95 (CA $22.95)
ISBN: 979-8-9985170-6-8
Publication Date: October 17, 2025
Distributor: IPG/Chicago, Ingram.
Rights sold: All rights available.
Rights: Dede Cummings, dede@greenwriterspress.com
Distributor: IPG; also available through Follett/Baker & Taylor, Ingram, and other wholesalers.
Individuals can pre-order directly from Bookshop.org, or contact your local, independent bookstore.
Booksellers, libraries, colleges/universities, gift shops, etc., can order through IPG:
Independent Publishers Group
814 N. Franklin Street
Chicago, IL 60610
Order Placement: (800) 888-4741
To request an advance reader copy—digital or print—email dede@greenwriterspress.com