She’s got this locket, and she’s sure it meant something to someone once, but that meaning has gotten lost in the mud and the years, and no small amount of sweetly mown grass. Pictures faded to little more than pulp, brass tarnished to scrapyard metal, she stands in the field, thinks of all that locket once contained; the hopes and fears, loves and disappointments, triumphs and ultimate, final failures. Dime store trumpery or treasured heirloom, in the end it doesn’t matter, because the sun is going red, and the grass is going to seed, and the significance is all hers.
James Benger is a father, husband and writer. His work has been featured in several publications. He is the author of two fiction eBooks: Flight 776 (2012) and Jack of Diamonds (2013), two chapbooks of poetry: As I Watch You Fade (EMP 2016) and You’ve Heard It All Before (GigaPoem 2017), two split books of poetry, Little Fires Hiding (with Jason Baldinger) (Kung Fu Treachery Press 2018), and Against The Dark (with Tyler Robert Sheldon) (Stubborn Mule Press 2019), and one full-length solo book of poems, The Park (Kelsay Books 2019.) He is a member of the Riverfront Readings Committee, and is on the Board of Directors of The Writers Place in Kansas City. He is the founder of the 365 Poems In 365 Days online poetry workshop and is Editor In Chief of the subsequent anthology series. He lives in Kansas City with his wife and children.
December Editor, Pat Daneman’s recent poetry appears in Atlanta Review, Freshwater, Bryant Literary Review, and Typehouse. Her collection, After All (FutureCycle Press 2018), was first runner-up, 2019 Thorpe-Menn Award and finalist, Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award. She is author of a chapbook, Where the World Begins. For more, visit patdaneman.com.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 