Rings
Kyle Newman
The city makes me for a splinter
and an approximate solitaire.
It cements me within
the half-life of a decaying stadium
where someone in the rotunda dons
unsuspecting statues with scapulars.
My sins written in chalk
on all walkways orbiting
the riverfront, with not a cloud in sight.
Sons learning to ride bikes in cul-de-sacs
projecting on the white sides
of high rises at twilight, like drugs
dissolving on the tip of my tongue
and the flags are at half-mast
and I have no idea why
other than to guess the factories must be
sleeping without dreaming again.
This is the place I pick
to save the prior minute’s version
of myself: The pennies scattered
in a mirage off in the distance
and if I squint long enough,
they take the shape of a sequoia.
AUTHOR BIO
KG Newman is a sportswriter for The Denver Post. His first four collections of poems are available on Amazon and he has been published in scores of literary journals worldwide. The Arizona State University alum is on Twitter @KyleNewmanDP and more info and writing can be found at kgnewman.com. He is the poetry editor of Hidden Peak Press and he lives in Hidden Village, Colorado, with his wife, three kids and four dogs.
JUDGE'S REMARKS
Poetry Judge
Allison Field Bell
Allison Field Bell is a multi-genre writer originally from northern California, but currently living in Utah.
MORE ABOUT ALLISON