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Michael Meyerhofer
beauty salon—
the ballet dancer's
long dark curls
pirouetting
into a trash can
cloudless night—
billions of stars
in the bullfrog's eyes
still he winces
from my flashlight
rainwater
falling
off a thin
metal
stop sign
winter twilight—
beneath our great
snow palace
the faint sound
of melting dreams
psychiatrist's office—
dredged up memories
of childhood abuse…
aquarium fish
pucker their mouths
moving day—
my buddha statue
shatters
she says don't worry,
we'll buy another
poetry conference—
after a standing ovation
she ducks offstage
to change her
crying child's diaper
Michael Meyerhofer, a second-year graduate student in poetry, recently won the Copperdome Poetry Chapbook Prize sponsored by the Southeast Missouri University Press and earned honors for his 24-page collection of poems titled Cardboard Urn. The title comes from a humorous misunderstanding over a container chosen for his recently deceased mother Madelyn's ashes. "While death and loss are prominent subjects in the book, my approach is a bit more positive than one might expect," says Meyerhofer, of Osage, Iowa. "I prefer writing accessible poems that entertain the reader, as they examine the human condition. I'm also very interested in history and science, and describing what I think are beautiful but common-place mysteries and events in our daily lives."
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