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"There is an emotional breadth and depth to Tim's work that is palpable. A deep sense of abiding presence and immediacy felt in each poem; as if he's sitting there with you, across some table in a comfortable, darkened café. Two friends, swapping stories. Time well spent. And his words: the kind of intimate and profound vignettes about what colors our thoughts, holds our spirits captive, ruminates in the deepest parts of our mind." -Vincent Larson, author of "Ashtapadi: Webs of Light.""Like Whitman before him, Timothy Tarkelly takes anything and everything as his subject, and of particular interest to both poets is the human condition. The deep empathy Tarkelly shows the characters who populate his work anchors this collection, particularly in those poems he uses to examine his own past. But he's no narcissist, reserving the bulk of his attention for the world around him, even when he is present in a given poem, and that is one of his greatest strengths.Another asset is the pure relatability of these pieces. Tarkelly's chosen topics range from history to religion, emotional health to love and longing, workaday life to consumerism-in other words, issues most of us grapple with every day. And he addresses them in language that is accessible to all: those who are new to poetry, those who have been reading verse for years, and even those who think they have no interest in the enterprise. Such a writer is a rare gem, and I propose that we keep this one in our collection." -Caitlin Johnson, Author of "Gods in the Wilderness" and "WAR/La Guerre""Tim Tarkelly's poetry is another example that the best poetry right now is coming out of the midwest. 21st-century modernist truths for a second lost generation who long for the little moments of life so they can yearn for more."-Daniel W. Wright, Author of "Brian Epstein Died for You"

"Whitman wrote "who touches this book touches a man." When we pick up Rick Christiansen's powerful and elegant Bone Fragments, we also touch a man's history and character. The poems are shaped by Christiansen's life, his alcoholic, abusive mother, the younger brother he stole groceries to feed, and now, his relationship with the much-loved grandson he is raising. Bone Fragments does not shy away from human beings at their worst-the poems address, unsparingly, neglect and abuse, but Christiansen often holds back from judgment. He understands what it's like not to have options, to do the best you can under the circumstances. In "Baby Teeth," for example, a caregiver prepares to use small pliers to extract a child's recalcitrant baby teeth, dental work that they cannot otherwise afford. The best poetry gives us a sense of the reality of someone else's life, what it's like to be someone else. This is Rick Christiansen's kind of poetry, and if you read Bone Fragments, it will be yours as well."-George Franklin, author of Remote Cities and first prize winner of the 2023 W.B. Yeats Poetry Prize. "A combo of self-fillet and whimsy! Hermann Hesse and Anais Nin on a Tinder date? Swipe right on this book!"-Frank Higgins, On Earth as it is (Spartan Press)"Rick Christiansen is a gifted writer who knows how to pull you in and keep you reading. His Bone Fragments is a fine collection of poems that got under my feet and made me feel a world of emotions. He digs deep, exposes horror, unearths marvels and tugs at the roots of hope and pathos with a penetrating humanity."-John Burroughs, U.S. National Beat Poet Laureate (2022-23) and author of Rattle and Numb¿¿¿"Rick Christiansen is a poetic archeologist pealing back the layers of his life with no anesthetic. Each transgressive event is dug up and laid out on the white earth of the page for the reader to see. Each poem in this amazing book is a bit of bone from the broken skeleton of his life. Bone Fragments opens the poet's life to what must be confronted, must be negotiated, must be accepted, and what must be surrendered, then finally to believe it all and laugh. Christiansen conducts a brilliant, heartfelt and painful excavation of his life. If readers only read one book of poetry this year it should be Bone Fragments" -Walter Bargen, First Poet Laureate of Missouri, author of Radiation Diary"Rick C. Christiansen is a poet whose time has come. His long overdue debut full-length collection Bone Fragments is well crafted, heartfelt, and at times almost chillingly honest about the things we all go through in this life, if we live long enough to tell the tale, and thankfully for us, Rick is still out there, his words laid bare on these pages, guiding us home with the truth as his only compass."-John Dorsey, Author of Pocatello Wildflower

Catherine Strayhall's debut is one of generations of joys and losses, of memories firmly rooted by place. Strayhall has a dexterous range of forms that she uses to explore the legacy of World Wars, the changing landscape and climate, and to count all the ways we are alive. She is unafraid to face the world's cruelties but always returns to art as a balm in the face of tragedies. With the same kind of courage the title Dress Me Like a Prizefighter implies, the poems "crush lightning and love on my lips" and beautifully balance the darkness with the tenderest connections, the poems about the light we have, reminding us to have courage as the sun goes down. -Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas, 2023-2026 ? 2027 ?These poems sing with the voice of an old soul-"I dream of someone who reached through the years to always bring me back"-a voice rhyming Europe with Kansas City, sisterhood with fireweed, grandparents with poems that are only just now writing themselves. Generous and alive, these poems are waiting for you.-Elizabeth Dodd, author of Horizon's Lens Overflowing with joy, Dress Me Like a Prizefighter carries the reader through contemplations of family history, generational legacy, and the natural world. It is an intimate love letter to both life in the Midwest and to poetry itself, skillfully interweaving these ruminations with a bold and compassionate command of language and form. Each poem leaves the reader with hope and wonder, even in the bleakest of moments-a reminder that there's beauty in both the vast and small experiences in life. -Heather Etelamaki, writer and academic librarianDress Me Like A Prizefighter is a wonderful book of poetry. The imagery and vivid language throughout made each poem flow and prompted many emotions. Catherine Strayhall is an extremely talented writer. Her references to family and nature were especially delightful to read. This book is perfect for those of us who need to feel hopeful through difficult times. This debut does not disappoint. -Kristy Nerstheimer, award-winning author of The Greatest Thing: A Story About Buck O'Neil

"Steve Gerson delivers brilliantly etched vignettes of America's psyche, soul, and temperament in his fourth collection of lyrical poetry and poetic prose. Once more, in unsurpassed fashion, he captures the essence of the nation's too little remembered, easily forgotten, readily ignored, continuously ignored heartland. His elegant writings touch on abuse and enduring love, shattered hopes and dashed expectations, stunted dreams and steely determination to weather the storm, both literally and otherwise. But even Gerson's darkest representations are, happily, leavened by the beauty of their delivery-which includes wonderfully apt titles--stitched together in seamless fashion with a fluidity seldom attained by other chroniclers of Americana. One fortunate enough to devour Gerson's written words experiences a multitude of emotions, ranging from anguish and remembrance to hopefulness and sheer delight. More than matching his earlier rich offerings, And the Land Dreams Darkly further cements Steve Gerson's standing as a leading 21st century poet-artist. Its creative entries skillfully explore a fitting arc of yearnings, life transformations, and, in characteristic fashion for the author, love and loss." -Dr. Robert C. Cottrell, The Year Without a World Series: Major League Baseball and the Road to the 1994 Players' Strike."Steve's poetry and short stories make you think, make you feel, make you despair, and make you hope. Steve's vignettes bring each character and the places they inhabit to life in the span of a few words or phrases, fully realized in your mind's eye. His evocative writing creates snapshots of human existence, spanning all its highs and lows. From the humble and downtrodden, to those hopefully in love, and to those despondent in the face of their loss, Steve carries you through on a wave of emotion. His writing makes you think about your own place in the world." -Stacy Harken, JD, Information Architect/Technical Writer, Garmin Industries"Steve Gerson's latest collection And the Land Dreams Darkly is his best to date. In this offering from Spartan Press, Gerson plays with genre from Japanese form poetry to micro plays, narrative poetry to short-short fiction. Most memorable are the sensory snapshots in time like the scene in 'The Moment' where kids are drinking cider and hoping Jim might play the fiddle. Or the creak in the floor from 'The Life of Grandpa's House.' Readers are won over by the characters who are 'planting in dry land' and 'charting a life' across the middle section of the country. This collection is for anyone who would like to sit with someone else's experience for a while." -Dr. Beth Gulley, English professor, author of Dragon Eggs and Frog Joy.

"Michael Poage's work as a pastor has led him to travel the world as a trauma counselor, working against the death penalty, doing community development, and participating in social justice work in America and overseas. His poetry has the same passion for social justice around the world. His persona in the work is personable, chatty, musing, self-deprecating, charming, but underneath the ease of apprehension in this accessible poetry is the powerful current of a passion for human connection, justice, and love as the basis of human society. His work seeks to find the general human context and analogue for his own family's migration, trauma, and suffering, to put his family's story into conversation with own lifework in helping historical traumas heal or at least scab over in the hearts of their victims. As Michael says himself, "I believe I can emphasize and underline the mystery - the imagination - at work through large and small influences in our daily human lives that take us into the very heart of powerful, transforming, and compassionate language and music that, if not life-saving, might give hope and new breath to a world suffocating for the lack of making even one poem." It is a laudable vision of poetry." -Tony Barnstone, poet, translatorMichael Poage was born in Virginia. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana and an MDiv from San Francisco Theological Seminary. This collection, WHY THE WILL TO PUNISH?, is his fifteenth book of poetry. He served as the Poet-in-Residence at Dzemal Bijedic University in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2017-18 and received a Fellowship to virtually teach English language and literature at Walailak University in southern Thailand, 2021-22. He lives in Wichita, Kansas with his wife, Dr. Gretchen C. Eick.

"Sharon SingingMoon's new poetry collection, The Weight of One Hummingbird Feather is a tragic memoir of the loss of her son to drug addiction in early January 2023. These raw and honest poems reveal not just her son's descent into addiction but also his healthy years of promise. Imagine a mother's pain witnessing her son's hopes and potential disintegrate overtime because of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl use, which finally claimed his life. Imagine the pain his 8-year-old daughter felt when she found the body of her beloved daddy. The poems are powerful, raw and emotional. One cannot read them without empathy and compassion. SingingMoon not only shares her grief but also wants readers to learn about street drugs, such as fentanyl, which are taking countless lives today. She was helpless, unable to change her son's choices. Sharing the intimate details of the path his life took and her forever grief over the loss of her son takes courage. SingingMoon is a skilled poet, and I believe many parents will relate to these impactful poems." -Barbara Harris Leonhard, Three-Penny Memories, A Poetic Memoir."The best way to review Sharon SingingMoon's book, The Weight of One Hummingbird Feather, is by using her own words. Addiction, she states, "calls the tunes," and leaves loved ones behind with the "maybes" knowing full well that the deceased "was more/than the addiction that took him." In the end, she concludes that "hope clings/to frozen branches." Poignancy is learned experientially, sadly."-Nancy Jo Allen, Wrinkles in Time and in Love and Wild and Tame.¿¿¿¿"The Weight of One Hummingbird Feather is a dare, an ache, a catalog of grief. As I read Sharon SingingMoon's new collection, I felt a growing sorrow. The poems travel a parent's hopes for her son, his decades of drug abuse, her own what-ifs, and his overdose death. With honesty and restraint, SingingMoon describes the difficulties yet never lets us forget her son's personhood, sharing his childhood antics, his love for his daughter, the photos that "document the moments he tried." As a parent and a poet, I'm astonished at the way SingingMoon balances emotional events and terse diction-an incredible feat that allows the rest of us to experience the intense dynamics and not pull away. "I save my tears for after you leave," she writes, words for her son and for us too, brief companions in one mother's journey."-Lynne Jensen Lampe, Talk Smack to a Hurricane¿¿¿"I haven't been hit so hard by a series of poems in years. The first time I heard Sharon SingingMoon read from this collection I had tears in my eyes-for the experience they describe, for the poems themselves, and for Sharon's willingness to stand up and testify and help others see they aren't alone. What an important collection this is!"-Justin Hamm, author of Drinking Guinness With the Dead: Poems 2007-2021

During my time as Missouri's 6th Poet Laureate, I have had two major goals. The first has been to put poetry into the hands and ears of Missourians who don't usually read poetry or go to poetry readings. My second has been to promote or highlight Missouri poets and publishers. Thanks to all of the poets (over 50) who have participated in some part of one of the projects, and thanks to Jason Ryberg of Spartan press and Ben Furnish of BkMk press for production. As a result of Covid, I have not been able to have the usual Missouri Poet Laureate travel experience for public appearances. I've given readings, talks, and keynotes, taught workshops, judged contests, participated in book festivals, written poems, published a book, re-issued a new edition of Red Silk, been interviewed, and traveled around some parts of the state. I have done many events while sitting at my computer on Zoom, so I decided I wanted to create some projects that would help me fulfill my two primary goals and reach all regions of the state in a meaningful way. The most significant thing I have learned so far as Poet Laureate is how many fine poets have lived or worked in Missouri for a large part of their lives. Through my projects, I have tried to represent all regions of the state, multiple styles, and diversity, but I know there are still many poets out there I don't know or was not able to contact to be involved in one of my projects. I know I haven't begun to represent all Missouri poets, but I'm not done yet, so there's more to come. My first project was to create ten podcasts called The Literary State. Each of these is a ten to twenty-minute podcast with a Missouri poet. Poets answer two questions about the craft of poetry, give a writing prompt, and read two of their poems. The podcasts are available on Anchor, Spotify, and Apple, or those interested can google them and listen on their phones or computers. The goal is that people will listen to them in their car, while cooking dinner, sitting at a table with a pen in hand ready to write, or anywhere they usually listen to podcasts. I also hope that teachers and professors will share them with their students as the podcasts offer valuable information about writing. My second major project was to create Tiny Books to highlight eighteen more Missouri poets. Each of these tiny books includes one poem. Each of those poets received a quantity of tiny books to distribute to people who do not usually read poetry-the grocer, waiter, doctor, dentist, mail deliverer, grass cutter, neighbor, etc. These tiny books have been incredibly popular, and I wish I had thousands more of them to distribute since there are over six million people in Missouri, and I wish everyone could have at least one of them. Some have reacted in wonderful ways of helping to spread them around for many to read, and I thank them for that. The third project is this one-two anthologies. Ten poems from ten more Missouri poets in two anthologies published by Spartan press and in partnership with I-70 Review. Welcome to the words of ten Missouri poets in this anthology. Enjoy. -Maryfrances Wagner, Missouri's 6th Missouri Poet Laureate 2021-2023

"With a sober, unflinching eye, poet Scot Young unfurls sketch after sketch of the quiet awe of the country life, the animal and plant kingdom at odds with barbed wire and rusty trucks emphasizing the tending of a wild land. The absurd, and the occasional nod to the occasional hero ("brautigan is taller/than a rainbow breaking the/surface of quiet") the poet turns the haiku form on its head as he hybridizes the form with the sonnet, with free flowing variations along the way, and in doing so, Scot continues to show us how the message informs the form, but also how the form informs the message."-Paul Corman-Roberts, Beast Crawl Literary Festival, Operations"Inspired by the likes of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Todd Moore, and others who have taken stabs at the American Haiku, Young takes the ever-evolving form and makes it his own. While the poems here vary in length and style, they all carry the music and the spirit of the more traditional form. Full of stark imagery both personal and universal, the poems flow from one to the next seamlessly carrying the reader along."-William Taylor, Jr., A Room Above a Convenience Store (Roadside Press).""If you're a fan of tradition, Scot Young's American Haiku may just take you by surprise, but what else is tradition there for than to give those seeking different paths in this world something to break away from. Young does just that, coming closer to modern poets like Ted Berrigan or Cid Corman than those writers of more formal haiku, but with a more Midwestern spin on things, words hung together by rural poverty, by the peace found in a quiet breeze, by all of the things we turn away from and those we rarely take the time to notice."-John Dorsey, Pocatello Wildflower"In this fine collection of unconventional haiku, Scot Young successfully breaks all the rules and offers us sequenced and sonnet haiku, one-word lines and other breaks from the traditional three-line haiku. He covers a wide array of topics from observations about nature to poverty, love, road kill, fish, animals, and education. The poems include nods to his poetic heroes including jazz stars, Bob Marley, Basho, Bob Dylan, Richard Brautigan, and Charles Bukowski. These poems are both thoughtful and visceral, and any reader will find plenty to enjoy and want to carry around to reread for when the need arises."-Maryfrances Wagner, Missouri's 6th Poet Laureate,The Immigrants New Camera (Spartan Press)"As poets, we spend much of our lives exploring the relationship of ourselves to the world. This can be a complicated endeavor, but Scot Young's American Haiku is familiar and delicate, elegant even. He has reimagined the haiku in a way that makes sense for him, pulling at the rebel ghosts of the forefathers of the western haiku. Scot is able to capture those moments in life that are often passed over as unimportant or insignificant. His ability to see the depth of a moment and carve out the best part is one of the best things about this collection."-Aleathia Drehmer, author of Layers of Half-Sung Hymns (Cajun Mutt Press)

"Among America's most prolific, penetrating, and prescient poets, Steve Gerson deftly delivers yet again with his latest volume, The 13th Floor: Step into Anxiety with Jeremiah-like lamentations. Brilliantly, even luminously drawn, this collection contains Gerson's typically elegant verses but also masterful flash stories and abbreviated musings. Subject matters are of the micro and macro level, intimate and not, pertaining to personal or global occurrences, which exude permanence or evanescence. In trademark fashion, Gerson artfully explores cutting-edge events ranging from the pandemic to endless tumult in the Near East and Putin's war in Ukraine to Americana at its most moving, poignant, wistful, terrifying, and, yes, hopeful. Thus, the reader encounters the rapidly transmuting virus but also another deadly epidemic: that of random shootings with far-too-young victims. Included too are meaningful stories of loss pertaining to relationships, economic distress, and the human condition itself, imperiled by climatic catastrophe. Dr. Robert C. Cottrell's most recent book, The Activist 1960s: Striving for Political and Social Empowerment in America, will soon be released. "In these troubling times, it helps to feel less alone, more connected, and seen by others. Steve Gerson's chapbook does that - his depictions of anxiety, depression, loss, and fear help give the fleeting emotions that drift through your thoughts a space to breathe. In a series of vignettes, his attention to time's inexorable march forward allows you to step out of your own world and step into a very real depiction of the unreal. Take this pause as a way to reflect on your own experience. Let his torment lessen your own. Steve's beautiful, sometimes haunting, sometimes humorous depictions of other lives each transport you to another space, another time, and another existence. His artistic and evocative expressions of feeling and emotion leave you thoughtful and more fulfilled." Stacy Harken, JD, Information Architect/Technical Writer, Garmin Industries "The 13th Floor by Steve Gerson is a book of poems, flash stories, and musings that tackles the modern paradox of loneliness in modern life, with all its opulence. Depression is rampant with undercurrents of latent anxiety. This work cuts though all the noise that comes with existing in a fast-paced society. And in this exploration, Gerson takes the reader on a hilarious ride that is pure schadenfreude. The genius of this work is that it is not an attack. Gerson does not preach. Rather, it is a feel-good rollick through everyday musings that will leave the reader smiling and pausing to connect intensely with Gerson's imagery. This book is a meditation on what we need to laugh at in these anxious times. 13th Floor is the magic bullet to smile and deserves a permanent seat on the coffee table with the iPhone and the laptop." Rob Titus, JD, Titus Law Firm "'So I turn on my smartphone to mute distraction.' 'Want to eat some stress?' Could there be a more accurate statement and subsequent question (approximately 20 pages apart) summarizing today's society and our hyperfocus on the constant flood of information? Although sad but true, Gerson calls to attention the innumerable factors in life that can and do lead to anxiety. Even for those of us who are privileged, the world in which we live is challenging. The demands of life are simply ongoing and often unpredictable. In reading Gerson's Chapbook, we learn that at least we're not alone."Dr. Stefani Buchwitz, Director, Self Graduate Programs, University of Kansas

"In The old Ambassador and Other Poems, Wayne Courtois gives the reader a sense of the queer experience in America from the onset of the HIV epidemic to current times. This collection displays a mastery of making the personal universal. So often these poems could slip into sentimentality, rants, and political diatribe, but instead Courtois keeps the reader in the poem and, by default, in the poetic moment. His lexicon is often surprising, and his measured use of poetics is sly - opting for slant and internal rhyme instead of predictable hard end rhymes. Whether one flies a rainbow flag or wants to understand better those who do, this collection fills the reader with all of the splendor of being human in a world where one's inclinations towards love can still be opposed, violently, by the dimmest misinformed minds." - Shawn Pavey, author, Survival Tips for the Pending Apocalypse¿If you're looking for a light read, The Old Ambassador and Other Poems by Wayne Courtois is not for you. In this collection, Courtois simultaneously paints an elaborate portrait of and gives voice to an oppressed, undervalued, and essential part of our society. Bigotry and discrimination are tackled in these poems, but never given the forefront; the poet deftly highlights the injustices without succumbing to the elusive dangers of diatribe. At its core, this book is about love and togetherness. Sometimes that is shown in traditionally idyllic ways, other times Courtois admits, "it felt good to hit things together." Though love is at the center of this book, the poet never steers the reader too far into the land of fairytale, but instead reminds us that "Only the hooker down/the hall guarantees/a happy ending." As bleak as that sentiment may be, only a few lines later we are told to "never forget/we love each other." In "Heteronormative Bar-B-Q Sandwich," the reader is treated to brilliant comparison of two couples and their varied acceptance by the outside word. "City of No Return" is a tour-de-force of a poem documenting the rise and fall of a relationship, and the life after the fall. Of course, the centerpiece of the book is the epic "The Old Ambassador," which is roughly half of the collection. This long piece gives the reader a vivid glimpse of a building, a city, a life, and an entire section of our community and what they face on a daily basis. Right away Courtois grabs the reader with expert lines like, "Have you ever grabbed a/doorknob that's been painted/Over? It's like shaking hands/with a ghost." As heavy as this piece (and the book as a whole) is, the poet deftly weaves in snippets of humor: "As usual,/every cloud looks like a/penis." Ultimately, Wayne Courtois new book is a masterpiece of bombastic understatement, a call to arms, a soothing lullaby, and a love letter and a middle finger to a city. But in the end, The Old Ambassador and Other Poems expertly proves to us that "We're all in this together." -James Benger, author of From the Back"THE OLD AMBASSADOR AND OTHER POEMS is a singularly impressive achievement. These poems whisper with poignancy, with broken promises and old sadness. Yet at the same time, they uplift us. The attention to detail is rich, yet grounded in the everyday--in the broken concrete, cracked paint, and heat that pervade these lines and verses. These are not poems to read in a few short moments and then forget; these poems will haunt you. And that's a good thing. I've followed the writings of Wayne Courtois for a long while, and with this new book I can truly say -- I am in awe."-Robin Wayne Bailey, Swords Against the Shadow Dance

Frank Higgins is a playwright and poet. His plays Black Pearl Sings!, The Sweet By'n'By and Gunplay: A Play About America, which had scenes read on Capitol Hill, have been produced around the country. His plays for young audiences include The Country of the Blind, an adaptation of the story by H.G. Wells. As a poet he has published the books Starting From Ellis Island and Ameri- can Haiku and Eating Blow sh. He taught for many years in the Young Audiences' program Artists-in-the-Schools in Missouri and Kansas. He teaches playwriting at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and the Haiku Society of America.

"Steve Gerson's latest collection moves from light to dark. It begins with the kind of love poems that could only be written by someone who has loved for a long time. They are rife with powerful images that show us true love doesn't have to fade: "your hands in mine as small as birdsong" or "stay with me as long as ink and paper remember." In part two, Gerson shatters us with images of loss like "seawater salt, like acid rains, eroded her resolve into fissures" or "like planting corn in concrete." The final section of the book, "Lost," takes the reader through the experience of various speakers who suffer trauma. Throughout the book, Gerson experiments with form, most notably with the erasure poems in the "Lost" section. This book begins with bird song, but it ends with an AK 47 and the Apocalypse. This great collection of poems is a knockout."-Dr. Beth Gulley, author of I Am Your Fish Drowning In Air: Love Poems"Albeit an optimist, this poet writes truthfully about the trying times we have all been living through. Recently, we have been forced to make frequent pivots - pivots to plans, to rules, to procedures, to hopes, to change. Love and losing and loss are the felt arc of this chapbook. This poetic arc suggests continued inspiration for the next phase - finding peace and love and hopefully solutions beyond the madness. Gerson writes, "but overflowing onto pages into our future written" in Chapter 1. These words hint at a positive conclusion beyond Chapter 3."-Dr. Stefani G. Buchwitz, Director, Self Graduate Fellowship, University of Kansas"Steve Gerson's evocative poems immerse the reader in what it means to love in our unsettling times. The first of three sections, "Love," transitions from the enclosed and timeless world of the lover and his beloved to our present-day, digital world where a love letter, no longer handwritten, can be deleted in an instant. "Losing," the middle chapter, begins with classic impediments to love: unfaithfulness, lack of communication, illness. The intrusions in "Lost" switch from the personal to the world at large: homelessness, racism, climate change, 9/11, Covid, and hanging over it all, the digital world which we have embraced. Throughout, striking images highlight the progression from love to loss as the poems move from the beloved, "your hands ...as small as birdsong" to a bride wearing "toxic mascara" to a teacher, "a little lady wearing a reindeer sweater" and wielding a gun. Timely and thought-provoking, energetic and perceptive, Gerson's poems are a testament to the challenges love faces in our viral world." -Edie Cottrell Kreisler, Professor Emeritus of English, Merritt College, Oakland, CA."This second volume of rhythmic incantations cements Steve Gerson's standing as a foremost American poet. Exuding sensuousness, pathos, and prescience, Viral: Love and Losses in the Time of Insanity brilliantly captures the urban landscape amid the pandemic as expertly as its counterpart, Once Planed Straight, evokes enduring images of the heartland. Gracefully and poignantly etched, Viral contains fifty-two exquisitely drawn poems nested in the pristine arcs of "Love," "Losing," and "Lost." The braided themes range from enduring love to vaccine refuseniks to the national shame of school shootings involving 'another child another child,' as Gerson eloquently weeps."-Dr. Robert Cottrell, author of Izzy: A Biography of I.F. Stone

Jim Hanson's Endless Journey is at once a travelogue and guidebook of trips down "Cinderella paths" and rivers both roaring and calm, along train tracks and online. In his poems, Hanson brings us with him forward and backward in time to meet up with Buddha and Burroughs, Lao Tzu and T.S. Eliot, Plato and Nietzsche, and then, after peering like Hubble into the far, dark reaches, he leads us home to the people whose "last names/and faces in high school yearbooks" we know well. Endless Journey is a wild ride, and Jim Hanson is a delightful guide-poet.- Josh Russell, author of Yellow Jack and King of Animals: Stories, Director of the Creative Writing Center, Georgia State University Jim Hanson's poetry takes us on a journey from mythology to Jack Kerouac. Oedipus Rex was driven by fate. He made choices but ultimately ended up where the gods preferred him to be. Jim shows how we may be driven by fate, but where we end up depends more on our own makeup---something innate or is it? "Perhaps something beyond" draws us forward as we feel our way through life and "Venture not back to your home/ where they know not who you are or what you mean."- jacob erin-cilberto, author of Pour Me Another Poem and five other poetry books Jim Hanson's first collection is a feast of ideas, undergirded by his broad knowledge of literature, history, science, arts, and religion. Images from varied disciplines travel comfortably together within Hanson's cohesive metaphor of journey. The seven sets of poems tackle the "hoary question of living and time," offering insights both ageless and new. Lost Journey is creative, challenging, and inventively formatted-an intelligent, provocative collection of poems that the reader will want to revisit, dog-ear, and embellish with marginalia.- Kathy Lohrum Cotton, author of Common Ground, and President of Southern Illinois Chapter of ISPS Out of the cacophonous multicultural clamor that we call America, Jim Hanson composes his provocative lyrics in a hero's effort to reach that which is ungraspable. He incorporates notes, chords, and themes, both harmonious and dissonant, from sources as varied as Plato and Lao Tzu, Einstein and Meister Eckhart, Saint John and Zoroaster, Heisenberg and Lucretius. Sometimes taking the role of Virgil, the guide, and other times, Dante, the seeker, Hanson accompanies us down the many strange byways of the human mind as it searches for the ineffable.- William L. Holcomb, physician and founder of Heartland Zen Meditation Community of St. Louis Jim Hanson's poems are about faith and the journey as a spiritual metaphor. While describing that in real life the way is often lost, he opens the way to salvation by the walking poems at the end. Great stuff.- Hugh Muldoon, late poet and activist, Carbondale, Illinois

Brenda Linkeman began writing poetry when she was a sophomore in high school and only recently began publishing. She has had poems published in The Gasconade Review and the Trailer Park Quarterly. She has made a career working as a clinical social worker and play therapist with children, as well as teaching private art lessons. Brenda grew up moving frequently since her father was a topographic engineer for the USGS. She has lived in seventeen states. Living all over the U.S. allowed her to learn about the variety of landscapes in this country, and the often subtle, but unique cultural differences there are between the states. The dynamics between people inspires Brenda's poetry, as does the universe.

Nettie Zan Powers is a poet, painter, fiction writer, event organizer, editor and founder of Stubborn Mule Press, an indie poetry press focused on working class street poets with an emphasis on radical country queers. Powers has several poetry collections published and their work can be found in numerous anthologies and journals both print and online. They also are a founding member and organizer of FountainVerse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest, a three-day festival in October of each year. Powers believes in an open hand, eye contact and dissolving into laughter, also rivers and exchanging disposable cameras.Nettie Zan Powers is a performance artist, writer and community builder in KCMO and beyond. She currently heads the generative performance venue, Uptown Arts Bar; collaborates on the annual Lit Fest Fountainverse; and is a fellow resident with Osage Arts Community near Belle, MO. She is a non-binary queer, working class artist. She has published ten books, not counting secret ones: including Earthworms & Stars, The Cosmic Lost and Found, Perfectly Good Muses, and most recently Gasconade by NightBallet Press. Her first novella, Victimless Crime, is forthcoming by Outlandish Press. She has also edited a number of successful anthologies: Finding Zen in Cowtown: Poems about KC; Desolate Country: Poets react to the inauguration; and Prompts: a spontaneous anthology.

"In Jacob Johanson's latest book of poetry, Billboards inthe Wasteland, two strong poems reach out from themiddle of the book that illuminate Jacob's reckoningwith the legacies of two late masters he admires, KellRobertson and Lew Welch. Sure, they're formidablepresences but their influence has never overwhelmedJacob's journey as a poet. His tributes to them aresubstantial and passionate. Jacob writes from theburial grounds of the Shawnee, the Kansa, the Osage.In one short powerful poem, a haiku almost, Jacobimagines the Lakota admitting the violated spirit ofTamir Rice to their circle. In another poem, he "sawan oncoming storm/divide the desert/into before andafter/just to learn/the importance of now." There arelong drives across an insensate America he assures uswith vibrant, plain-spoken language, that its wreckedand beautiful mythology is still intact, that wastelands are in the eye of the beholder." -John Macker, author of The Blues Drink Your Dreams Away, Selected Poems 1983-2018 and Atlas of Wolves."There's something in the waters of the Kansas / Missouriborders these days, and Jacob Johanson is drinkingfreely of it, which is to our benefit. He is the man ofearly middle age, realizing regrets, well entrenched indaily routine, with lots of time ahead to contemplate.His poems can be read as, "...old constellations on oldstars," familiar territory explored with new eyes. Thereare the women, just out of understanding, to tangowith in minefields. There are the Shawnee sages, aswell as an exchange with our friend the Moon, no sageat all in these pages. Johanson, writing in, "... an era offorgotten atrocities," expresses the fears, hopes, andmemories of those often without a voice. In Billboards,the signs are there for all to see, and to find a kindredspirit."-Cheryl A. Rice, author of Love's Compass"Jacob Johanson's poems are tiny billboards illuminatingthe consciousness of Americans in the early 21st Centurywith quick hit, short lined, revelatory poems full ofhumor, hope and horror. His poems unite the rationaland the surreal. A man finds god on a small square ofpaper that melts on the tongue another is moved towrite by an angel thankful there's enough change onthe dashboard to make it home. Reading Jacobson Ifind myself angry and laughing sometimes simultaneously.For example, open this book to page 27 and read BlowingOut Headspace, Move Along. Despite the craziness ofour culture, he ends the poem with these tender lines:"close your eyes/and you can feel/I promise/ individualblades of grass/pushing between your toes." That'ssoul brothers and sisters. That's soul."-John Knoll, Black Mesa Blues (Spartan Press, 2020)

Daniel W. Wright is an award-nominated poet and fiction writer. He most recently wrote the foreword for Sacred Decay: The Art of Lauren Marx (Dark Horse, 2021). He is the author of eight collections of poetry, including Love Letters from the Underground (Spartan Press, 2021), Rodeo of the Soul (Spartan Press, 2019), and Murder City Special (Bad Jacket, 2017). His work has appeared in print journals such as The Literary Parrot, BUK100, 365 Days, and Gasconade Review, as well as online journals such as Book of Matches. He currently resides in St. Louis, MO, where you can usually find him in a bar or a bookstore.Jim McGowin has a background in media communications and visual art. He prefers to create cool stuff, but keeps a day job. His poems have been published in Chance Operations, The UCity Review, Rusty Truck and The Gasconade Review. He is the author of several chapbooks of poetry and the collection Murmuration, published in 2018 by Spartan Press. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his family and two cats.Denmark Laine is a St. Louis poet, novelist and music critic whose work has been featured on Fox 2 KTVI, Subprimal Poetry, STL TV Live, the St. Louis Poetry Slam, Eleven Magazine, Bad Jacket and Book of Matches to name a few. He has a BFA in nothing from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a minor in miming and is the author of Exile On Cherokee Street, The Gods of Autumn, Thorazine Ice Cream Parlor and The Absinthe Fountain.Jessie Eikmann lives in south St. Louis, where she stocks shelves at a supermarket and occasionally screws around with writing. Though she mostly writes as a hobby these days, she spent six years obsessively devoted to poetry, culminating in her MFA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2019. Her work has appeared in Sou'wester and Unbroken Magazine. Bad Jacket Press published a chapbook of her poems, The Kiss of Complicity, which she describes as "letters to all the people who disappointed me in my life." Jessie may or may not publish any more work soon, as she lacks professional ambition and does not care what content is "appropriate" for highbrow magazines. Post-MFA, she has spent most of her time cooking fancy vegetarian food, haunting her local gym, volunteering with her labor union and the Communist party, and seeking out various sexual dalliances on OKCupid.S. Elizabeth Cook is an award-winning author and poet of four published poetry collections, the most recent being Yellow Light. A true romantic, S. Elizabeth has spent nearly a decade writing about and capturing the raw existence of humans, nature and love. She believes there is beauty in heartache and a deflating pain in love, and that one must fall to let it hurt.Mack Thorn is poet from St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up he has lived in almost every corner, nook, and cranny of his home town. Worked a broad array of conventional and unconventional jobs like drug rehabilitation and dry wall hanging. He also spent 6 years in the navy reserve. Published works in Badjacket zine and the Whiskey Rye Review.