His friends’ eyes blink worry line codes,
navigate glances laden with dark alleys.
They proffer bitter advice spiced
with apologies, reach for his hand, but
it has become a trigger with wires wending
into his heart, a timer that sets them
to trembling with each click. They ache
to know which colored coil they need to cut,
which profession of love might ground
the uncertain and secret circuits of his soul.
~ Roy Beckemeyer
Roy J. Beckemeyer was President of the Kansas Authors Club from 2016-2017. His poetry book, Music I Once Could Dance To (Coal City Press, 2014) was recognized as a Kansas Notable Book. His new chapbook of ekphrastic poems, Amanuensis Angel, is out from Spartan Press (2018), as is his new collection, Stage Whispers(Meadowlark Books, 2018). Author’s Page: https://royjbeckemeyer.com/
Guest Editor Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate and the author or editor of over 20 books. Founder of Transformative Language Arts at Goddard College, where she teaches, she also offers community writing workshops widely, and with Kelley Hunt, Brave Voice writing and singing retreats. She founded the 150 Kansas Poems site where she is thrilled to work with many fine guest editor poets and witness powerful writing from and about the heartland.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 