Weekly Poem: 'Pastorelle 15'

**By John Taggart** The Chinese in the drought of 1876-1879 reportedly confused rustling of dry leaves for rain when the ear's not yet adulterated/unadulterated in the morning late at night or very early in the morning it sounds like rain.     John Taggart was born in Perry, Iowa, on October 5, 1942. He is the author of 14 volumes of poetry. From 1969 to 2001, he taught in the English Department and directed the Interdisciplinary Arts Program at Shippensburg University. He has received a number of awards for his teaching and writing, among others the Commonwealth Award for Academic Service, the Chicago Review poetry prize and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. He lives in the Cumberland Valley of south-central Pennsylvania. Taggart's new book of poems, "Is Music," will be published in October "by Copper Canyon Press":http://www.coppercanyonpress.org/catalog/index.cfm?action=displayBook&book_ID=1445.