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Larry W. Allen Columbia
Larry W. Allen is a Missouri Probation and Parole Officer. He has had works published in Main Street Rag, Mid-America Poetry Review, Well Versed, The Griffin, Fine Arts Discovery Magazine, NOW and a vignette biographical piece in Military Images Magazine.
An avid history nut, Larry is well known for his history related poems. His book: Do Come In and Other Lizzie Borden Poems, was published in 2009 by Pear Tree Press.
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Gusatavo Adolfo Aybar - Kansas City
Gustavo Adolfo Aybar is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he received his MA in Romance Languages & Literature. As a member of The Latino Writer's Collective, his work can be found in their anthology, Primera Pagina: Poetry from the Latino Heartland (Scapegoat Press, 2008). Other publications include: Harvest of New Millennium 3.1 Jan. 2010; Black Magnolias Literary Journal, Jan. 2010; NINE: A Journal of Baseball History & Culture 19-1 Fall 2010; Oranges & Sardines Dec. 2009; and presentmagazine.com where he was a Poet-In-Residence all of 2010. For access to more information, poetry and videos visit www.gustavoadolfoaybar.com. |
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Faith Bemiss - Sedalia
Faith Bemiss is a native of Sedalia, and is a freelance writer for The Sedalia Democrat where she places articles about food. Bemiss has also contributed feature articles to national and regional magazines such as Missouri Life, The Lake Magazine, Birds & Blooms, and Country Discoveries.
Bemiss is also and a nationally recognized nature and fine art photographer. In her spare time she writes verse and has published two books of poetry, Toward the Sun, a Marriage of Photography and Poetry, and Symphony.
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Carol Gorski Buckels - Rocheport
Carol Gorski Buckels has worked as a grant writer for more than 20 years. She has run her own grant writing business for the past 7 years, bringing in funding for nonprofit groups including a therapeutic riding center, a contemporary ballet company, organic farmers, and a substance abuse treatment center. Carol is originally from Rome, New York, and now lives in Rocheport, Missouri with her husband Steve, and their 3 dogs and 3 cats.
Carol’s poems have been published in Well Versed, the literary magazine of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild. She published a biography of Sara Lockwood Williams – the “first girl reporter” for the St. Joseph Gazette – in Show Me Missouri Women: Selected Biographies, which is a collection of over 200 biographies, sponsored by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Carol’s stories and articles have appeared in Mid-Missouri Mature Living Magazine, Small Farm Today Magazine and the Columbia Business Times.
In addition to writing, Carol has a passion for lifelong learning. She has taken classes in Irish harp, cello, fiddle, bagel making, yoga, dog training, equestrian jumping, and photography – to name a few.
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Diana Chang - Fulton
Diana Chang was born in Vietnam and grew up in Hawaii. She now lives in Fulton, Missouri. She enjoys eating.
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David Clewell - St. Louis (Poet laureate for the state of Missouri)
David Clewell is the author of eight collections of poetry—most recently, Taken Somehow By Surprise (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011)—and two book-length poems. His work regularly appears in a wide variety of national magazines and journals—including Poetry, Harper’s, The Georgia Review, New Letters, The Kenyon Review, and Boulevard-and has been represented in more than fifty anthologies.
Among his honors are several book awards: the Felix Pollak Poetry Prize (for Now We’re Getting Somewhere), National Poetry Series selection (for Blessings in Disguise), and the inaugural Four Lakes Poetry Prize for Taken Somehow By Surprise. He is currently the poet laureate of Missouri.
Clewell teaches writing and literature at Webster University in St. Louis, where he also directs the English Department’s creative writing program. His collection of Charlie the Tuna iconography is now the largest in private curatorship. And don’t even get him started on the subject of flying saucers.
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James H. Coffman - Columbia
Jim’s Gravel Dust and Dreams was published in 2009 by Pudding House Publications which also released a sequel, Outside the Crowd. His poetic works have appeared in several journals and anthologies, including The Mid-America Poetry Review, Missouri Teachers Write, Imagine: Arts Ministry Magazine of Imago Dei, Illness and Grace: Terror and Transformation, and several issues of Well Versed.
Jim is a graduate of Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, with an MDiv. He was a minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), but is now retired after forty years active service. Besides weekly sermons, he authored Communicate In Word and Deed for the United Church Press, Finding Myself in the Parables for The Christian Board of Publication and numerous articles and short pieces for Catalyst, Alive, The Disciple, and The Christian, as well as devotional materials for The Quiet Hour and The Secret Place.
Jim is a member of the Missouri Writer’s Guild and the CCMWG.
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Bernard Hartge - Chamois
Bernard Hartge is a farmer, carpenter, and poet who cut his last tooth decades ago. Born in mid Missouri in the flood plain of the Missouri River he now lives on a bluff out of reach of the floods but still in sight of the place he was born. He still farms fields farmed by his great grandfather over a century ago. This country background often flavors his poetry which he hopes can give voice to a disappearing breed.
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Robert Milton Ingram - Independence
During his long and distinguished career as an interculturalist, Robert Milton Ingram lectured extensively on three continents and published four books and more than 50 articles in scholarly journals and professional magazines. In 2001, he retired to establish the Ingram Institute, an international non-profit think tank devoted to advancing the study and practice of interdisciplinary collaboration in research and teaching, and to compose music and write song lyrics, poems, short stories, and non-fiction.
His literary works address the major themes of diversity, nature, love, and humanity. Though he has explored various forms of poetry (rhyme, narrative, haiku, etc.), he works mostly with free verse, focusing on creating vivid characters and scenes. “A good poem,” he says, “touches people’s hearts or stirs their minds. A great poem,” he adds, “does both.”
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E. John Knapp - Jefferson City
E. John Knapp has written poetry for at least 60 years. After growing up in rural Michigan, John spent nearly four years during WWII in England. After the war he graduated from Lawrence Tech University in Detroit with degrees in Architecture and Engineering. He practiced Architecture in Michigan and Wisconsin where he specialized in vet clinic design, which led to the publishing of his book, The Floor Plan Book, containing floor plans of animal facilities.
He recently published Poet Flyer, a book of poetry capturing the observations and experiences of a Private First Class pilot during World War II. He is currently working on a prequel to his WWII book called, My Family– a compilation of poetry and prose describing how his family survived the Great Depression.
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Connie Kay Koch Sedalia
Connie Kay Koch has been writing prose and poetry since the 4th grade at Whittier Elementary School in Sedalia, Missouri…back when the bricks were new. Her selected topics are as diverse as her interests which include speed skating, agriculture, camping and kayaking, scuba diving, snake handlin’ and boy raisin’ of two sons, Josh and Jesse.
Koch’s works have been published in “National Future Farmer”, “Missouri Farmer Today”, “Skate” magazine, “Hoard’s Dairyman”, the Red Hat Society book, Sassy, Classy and Still Sparkling as well as numerous journals and publications. Connie writes from life experiences and enjoys injecting humor and plays on words into her works. “An Easter Fable”, a poem about the Easter Bunny and Easter Beaver rewrites the historically incorrect version of “ hoppin’ down the bunny trail.” “A Different Christmas Fable” touts the contribution of a special snake to the Christmas season. A sense of wickedly funny humor permeates much of her work.
Connie is well known as the “Snake Lady” of central Missouri and enjoys road trippin’ her 12 little friends to educational presentations at schools, libraries, and other events within the area. She was born and raised in Sedalia, Missouri and never found reason to leave. Her education spans years from SFCC and CMSU to the final sprint at MU with a master’s degree in Agriculture Education. She has enjoyed her reign as Queen of the “Mad Rad Hatters” chapter of Red Hat Society. Connie continues to be inspired by her grandchildren as a fertile source of material for future writings. Life is good in Connie-land.
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Brent Martin -Jefferson City
Brent Martin is the Managing Editor for the Missourinet News Network. A journalist who covers state government and politics, Brent began writing poetry while growing up on a farm in northwest Missouri. He earned a degree in journalism from the University of Central Missouri, graduating in 1981. He enjoys reporting, but has found that in many instances it takes a poem to truly get at the truth.
Martin grew up on his parents’ farm in Cowgill, Missouri. He earned a journalism degree at Central Missouri State University and was news director of KOKO in Warrensburg for four years. He has been with the Missourinet since 1995. In that capacity Martin’s daily beat includes covering the legislative action from the floor of the Missouri House. His poetry contains personal reflections and historical insights gained through family life and his notable media career.
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Daniel Mollenkamp - Warrensburg
Daniel is an independent filmmaker who has written and produced over a dozen short films. He also was an award-winning writer/producer for KMOS-TV in 2009, the script supervisor for the feature-film Box Elder in 2007, and a graphic designer for the Columbia Daily Tribune in 2006. He has been writing creatively for as long as he can remember, and was inspired to start writing poetry in particular after attending the first Montserrat Poetry Festival in 2008. He finds continued inspiration in his wife, Julie, and their son Charles.
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Christina Pacosz - Kansas City
Born and raised in Detroit by Polish-American parents, Christina Pacosz’ poetry/writing has appeared in literary magazines and online journals for almost half a century. A poet-in-the-schools and a North Carolina Visiting Artist, she has published several books of poetry, including Greatest Hits, 1975-2001 (Pudding House, 2002) a by-invitation-only series.
Her chapbook, Notes from the Red Zone, originally published by Seal Press in 1983, was selected as the inaugural winner of the ReBound Series by Seven Kitchens Press in 2009. She and her husband live in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Eva Ridenour - Armstrong
Eva Ridenour has published one chapbook of poetry, Ridin’ the Rails and Life. Other poems have appeared in Cappers, Ozarks Mountaineer, The Mid-America Poetry Review and Well Versed. She started her writing career by writing magazine articles that have appeared in magazines such as Grit, Persimmon Hill, Family MotorCoaching, and Boys’ Life and religious publications.
She has written and published eight novels under the pen name of Elizabeth Butler. Libby is the 2004 Walter Williams Award winner of the Missouri Writers’ Guild. Her other novels are The Colonel’s Widow, Trailboss, J.D.s Rustler, Master of the Night, Calico Queen, Blue Light Special and Yellow Brick Road Collide and Honeysuckle. A retired secretary originally from Illinois, lived ten years in Arizona and loves to travel, especially in the west. She currently lives in Armstrong, MO.
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Tony Shaffer - Warrensburg, Missouri
Tony Shaffer’s business card reads:
"Nothing in Particular
Poet, Teacher, Musician, Fly Fisher &c."
Shaffer is the author of The Spring Branch, “a long poem about fly fishing, life, a good dog, and form,” and he has traveled extensively, playing guitar and pedal steel and touring most of the US as well as Europe, Canada, and Australia with artists ranging from blues icon King Alex to country music legend Leroy Van Dyke.
In addition, since 1994, Shaffer has worked for the UCM Writing Center and taught various courses, including one he developed titled “Ways of Thinking,” which focuses on critical thinking techniques. Shaffer also performs locally with UCM colleagues Mick Luehrman and John Check in their trio, “Luehrman, Shaffer, & Check.” And he writes every day.
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Neal Torrey - Bolivar
Neal Torrey spent 20 years writing and producing advertising for radio and television. He left a Michigan advertising agency for Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he raised AQHA and Appaloosa horses. He was also Captain of the Teton County Sheriff’s Reserve, a 22-man search and rescue unit. He actually rode horseback after cattle rustlers, just like Gene and Roy!
While in Wyoming, he painted the mountains, cowboys, Native Americans, game animals and horses. He helped rancher friends with their Spring and Fall roundups and learned a lot about the Western lifestyle. He started putting down some of the stories he heard from old cowboys in the form of cowboy poetry with the object of preserving some of the history of the old West. Some of his poems, while historically accurate, are also hysterically funny.
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Alex Wales - Warrensburg
Alex has been a Presbyterian Pastor for almost 40 years, and served in the Warrensburg Presbyterian Church for 23 of those years. In 2010, Alex became the interim minister of the Broadway Presbyterian Church of Sedalia and he will probably be with that church for another year or so.
Alex has been writing poetry since junior high school and has been writing his Pastor’s column, Wale’s Tales, in poetry form for more than two decades. A New Jersey native, he has lived more years in the midwest than anywhere else.
Alex earned a Doctorate of Ministry degree in 1992 from Dubuque Seminary. He’s married to Barbara, and they have a son, Nathan, and a daughter, Emily. He’s authored a couple of books, and has served churches in Pittsburgh, PA, Joplin, MO. Sarasota, FL as well and Warrensburg and Sedalia.
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Clarence Wolfshohl - Fulton
Although Clarence started publishing in small press magazines in the late 1960s in such places as Road Apple Review and Foxfire, he soon turned his attention to the making of books when he started Timberline Press in 1975.
He published over seventy books by such poets as Emily Borenstein, David Ray, Joe Benevento, Wally Swist, William Heyen, Walter Bargen ( the first Poet Laureate of Missouri,) and Larry D. Thomas (Poet Laureate of Texas, 2008). Most of these publications have been handcrafted by letterpress. On January 1, 2011, he turned the press over to Steven and Regina Schroeder.
Now retired as professor emeritus from William Woods University after forty-one years of teaching, he has returned more vigorously to his own writing in the past few years. His poetry and creative fiction have appeared in Concho River Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Colere, Rattlesnake Review, Cenizo Journal, and Melic Review Muse2 online. Recently, a chapbook of poems about Brazil, Season of Mangos, was published by Adastra Press (2009) and a compilation of three earlier chapbooks, The First Three, was published by El Grito del Lobo Press (2010).
He lives with his wife, his writing, two dogs and two cats, and his printing press in a nine-acre woods outside of Fulton, Missouri.
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Tantra-ziwadi - New York City
Tantra-zawadi – a published author, performance poet and filmmaker from New York City - has performed to standing-room audiences at venues as far away as South Africa, London, Germany and Toronto as well as venues in the New York City area – such as the Lincoln Center Performance Arts Library, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Montserrat Poetry Festival.
She has performed original works in the off-Broadway productions of Girl – A Choreospective, Soldier Blues, An Evolution in Reinvention, the Numeral Three, Leaving My Apartment and Other Urban Adventures and the vonduvoisdancecollective. Tantra is also a recipient of the Kings County District Attorney's Office Award for Women’s History Month for her artistic contributions to the borough of Brooklyn.
Publications include:
“Gathered at Her Sky” (Poets Wear Prada Publishing, June 2010);
“alifepoeminprogress” (Chuma Spirit Books, 1999);
Featured in Essence Magazine and in spoken word publications such as Redeye, Spoken Vizions (www.spokenvizions.com), defpoetryjam.com, Platinum Poets, Sunpiper Press, Souled Up and poetswearprada.com;
Contributing writer for AfroFutures.com and Spokenvizions.com.
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