www.members.authorsguild.net/hcamner

Accolades:

• Nominated for Poet Laureate of Florida (1980)
• Received Fine Arts Press Poetry Award
• Named “Poet of the Year” New Times Newspaper “Best of Miami” readers poll edition (2007)
• Received first annual MiPO Coat Hanger Award
• Represented the U.S. in the Poet 2000 Sculpted Library in Ireland
• Works housed in prominent literary collections worldwide, including historical archives and royal libraries

Publications:

• Turbulence at 67 Inches (autobiography)
• Taj Mahal Review
• Bristol Banner Books Anthology Series
• The International Literary Quarterly
• The Great American Poetry Show (anthology)

Discovery moment: Every time I see someone turning right from the far left-hand lane.

Poem:

*

Eating Toad on Old Clyde Road

It’s a rumor really
When I was there I never saw it happen
What I saw was a wizened wino
collecting prosthetic eyes
in an old tin cup
There were switchblades and sirens,
campground con men,
and skinny-dippers on dry land
There was a brooding sideburned rebel
stealing love at Lord Dunmore’s Ball
and some backdoor servant
counting her blessings

I wondered about Old Clyde
and how his road came to be
Did he pave it himself?
Did he discover it in the name
of some midnight drag queen?
I started caring the moment I stopped
because he was there at the next crossroads
I came to
He wore a grey frayed top hat
and the daily news
When I met Old Clyde
he tipped his hat and asked me about myself
I wanted to tell him my recurring dream
and all about my wonderful childhood
in Bismarck, North Dakota

But as luck would have it
I’ve never been there