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!
Extending the Drift
Extending the Drift Sometimes the perfect presentation of a blue-winged olive between a pool and riffle raises a trout long as your forearm with black spots the size of thumbnails and a deep red stripe, so sleek. You watch it leap at the fly and miss, then it begins to fade downstream as you whisper, Come back, take it. Squinting into the glare of late-spring sun, the magnificence barely now in sight, you draw a breath and hold it, reach out over the water, farther, farther still to extend the drift, until the line strips to its end and you must finally exhale, breathe again, somehow convince yourself there are always future chances. ********** This poem appeared in the summer 2023 issue of Gyroscope Review
WRITING ASSISTANT BIO
Hilbert (aka Hilly, aka Bean, aka The Boy, aka Sir Hil the Bert) was born on the mean streets of Long Island but found his way into a shelter in Massachusetts and then into a home equipped with two compliant human servants. Hilbert, an aspiring self-help author, is hard at work on the guide How Not to Get Stuck Repeatedly on Top of the Refrigerator (Where, Surely, the Answer to Everything Is) at 3:00 A.M. and Cry Loudly Until Your Hoomans Wake Up and Save You. His hobbies include launching himself at birds only to be thwarted by the breezeway window screen, and that’s about it. Unlike many cats, he enjoys belly rubs. His bite to rub ratio is a staggeringly low 1/6. He apologizes for putting math into his bio, but his hooman, Richard, named him after the famous mathematician David Hilbert. How silly is that?
AUTHOR BIO
Richard Jordan’s poems have appeared or will appear soon in Midwest Quarterly, Rattle, Valparaiso Poetry Review, New York Quarterly, Gargoyle Magazine, Sugar House Review, Tar River Poetry, Redivider, Connecticut River Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. His debut chapbook, The Squannacook at Dawn, won first place in the 2023 Poetry Box Chapbook Contest. He serves as an Associate Editor for Thimble Literary Magazine and lives in the Boston area.
Check out Richard’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/richard.jordan.7106
His chapbook is available here: https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/squannacook
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