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!
I See You
I See You You are new to this town, standing at the worn-down end of Main Street, where it crosses to the river. Maybe you arrived in that hectic hour before school, when cars stream up the narrow hill, no sidewalks—I see you standing alone, your cardboard sign: Hungry. Homeless. Help. Your hat on crooked, your boots not tied, mid morning now and chilled, stung by a sharp wind. You are new in this place. You can’t know how your worn jacket, the bag at your side, slice into my heart, where grief simmers. Someone I loved stood the way you are standing; asked a stranger’s help as rain began; refused an invitation to come back. Not everyone’s willing to be embraced. To be known or invited. Five dollars and some change I had with me, and I put them in your hand—mentioned a diner on the far side of town where a full breakfast costs less than that—said “have a good day, stay safe.” Things I used to say across three hundred miles to someone starving in a city where, every day, he grew older, sadder, more angry. I hope you find your way. I hope you find your place, here or somewhere else. I wish you a hot shower, a cheap ride, a job you can bear to hold onto. A place that holds you kindly, as you are: embraces you. Offers you a home.
WRITING ASSISTANT BIO
You know you’ve found the right coffee shop when your New York City sons discover it first, and then pass it along. The orange mug with the Café Grumpy logo keeps me company now, nagging me to write the next poem. Somehow it never does get around to smiling back at me, though!
AUTHOR BIO
Beth Kanell lives in northeastern Vermont among rivers, rocks, and a lot of writers. Her poems seek comfortable seats in small well-lit places, including Lilith Magazine, Gyroscope Review, The Post-Grad Journal, Does It Have Pockets?, Anti-Heroin Chic, Ritualwell, Persimmon Tree, Northwind Treasury, and Rise Up Review, plus she wrote the runner-up poem for the 2024 Steve Kowit Prize. Find her memoirs on Medium, and her reviews at the New York Journal of Books and Historical Novels Review. She also writes feature articles, short stories, and novels, recently This Ardent Flame and The Long Shadow.
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