Welcome to National Poetry Month and Gyroscope Review’s month-long celebration of poets – and their diverse Writing Assistants. Enjoy the audio/video works by previous Gyroscope Review poets and be sure to check out the Author and fun Writing Assistant Bio at the end of each NPM poet post. Don’t forget to tag the poet on Social Media and let them know you enjoyed their work!
Before Calling the Coroner
Before Calling the Coroner With my skin still clinging, dress me in silk, anoint my lips with scotch. Parade me with a jazz band, costumed children, pigs in tutus, family clowns. Chop me up and place me on a mountain top. Let the vultures feast. Burn me inside the belly of a bull as the dragon stands witness. Bury me in a hollowed-out tree trunk or beneath the kitchen table. Exhume my body later, spray it with wine and let the band play. Dance my essence slow and sexy. Send me off with the song of laughter. If a coffin it must be, make it a Lamborghini or a warm mixed-berry pie.
WRITING ASSISTANT BIO
Writing helper Nah is a fickle companion, a warty, arthritic crone who often wears the trappings of doubt, full snark, and eye roll. By the time she gets me backed into my closet, crouched beneath my tenderly preserved mother-of-the-groom dresses, she might relent, breeze in through a heat vent, and drop a jalapeño line, so caliente, so urgent that I’m shoving past her to my notebook. Mind you, she is sparing.
AUTHOR BIO
Kathleen Wedl is the author of the poetry collection, Ordinary Time, published by Kelsay Books. She has been recognized in contests and literary journals, including Gyroscope. In 2020 she was chosen to participate in a year-long mentorship at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, which happened to coincide with the pandemic, giving her mandated chair time. During 50 years as a nurse specializing in behavioral health, writing was a conduit between herself and her world. Kathleen has many interests vying for her attention, among them traveling with her husband.
Don’t forget to read the Spring 2024 Issue of Gyroscope Review.
NPM 2024 Poets
April 1 – Cal Freeman
April 2 – Susanna Lang
April 3 – Marion Brown
April 4 – Melissa Huff
April 5 – Elaine Sorrentino
April 6 – Alison Stone
April 7 – Alexandra Fössinger
April 8 – Laurie Kuntz
April 9 – Dick Westheimer
April 10 – Wendy McVicker
April 11 – J.I. Kleinberg
April 12 – Ellen Austin-Li
April 13 – D. Dina Friedman
April 14 – Connie Post
April 15 – Georgina Key
April 16 – Judith McKenzie
April 17 – Jacqueline Jules
April 18 – Amanda Hayden
April 19 – Lisa Zimmerman
April 20 – Richard Jordan
April 21 – Beth Kanell
April 22 – Kari Gunter-Seymour
April 23 – Jane Edna Mohler
April 24 – Susan Cummins Miller
April 25 – Kathleen Wedl