Dennis Maulsby is president of the Iowa Poetry Association and a member of Third Stanza, a poetry society in Ames that meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. at the public library. In an email, he writes, “Many of my poems are about war and its effects. As a Vietnam veteran [...]

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In this election year successful candidates are likely to be those who communicate clearly. Hopefully, their public comments and conversations also give us insight to the human inside. Poetry does that best especially when the poetic carries over into their speeches and writings. Many U.S. presidents have tried to work the magic. Poems survive from [...]

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i am an invaluable jazz junkie seeking conscious fulfillment thru an empty carton of cigarettes and way too much free-time…wasted (of course), lusting after the poisoned, homicidal kisses …contained within Her lips Look for Joseph David Soukup’s new chapbook at the Space for Ames, under a bridge, or tacked to the stall walls in a [...]

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You envision a man resting on his knees, hands atop the thighs, shoulders and back bowed and curved forward, head low. His eyes are closed and he only moves from his breath. Heaving upward from his chest to the ambit of his arched body. Maybe it is raining and humid. Maybe somewhere nearby a fire [...]

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they’re talking about the pope on the radio later it’s oscar wilde then arabic television outside a brick chimney pushes out smoke that is dissipating through trees squirrels are running through london streets squirrels are balancing through a labyrinth of branches and telephone wires their little gripping toes scraping across conversations squirrels are bouncing through [...]

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In parts one and two of our unexpected sally into the mystery of the unknown poet Archibald Crouton, we had questions and searched for answers. Often those searches led us kicking empty cans down the back allies he seemed to love so much. But every time we could return to the poems themselves, seemingly the [...]

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Ted Kooser was born in Ames in 1939 and graduated from Iowa State University. He served as US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006 and currently edits the weekly newspaper series “American Life in Poetry.” He has published many books over the past four decades and has been awarded numerous literary honors. In 2005 he [...]

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in the darkness you shone, cold street lights like some frozen moon illuminating many perfect beveled edges, little slivers jet black carved so soft, so still, so dead yet gleaming dull lustre from the ground, the heat of an animal dissipating, you tell me something of what it’s like to be dead talons curled to [...]

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In part one of our descent into filth – the exploration of the unknown drunkard-prince of Ames, Archibald Crouton – we were left with nothing but questions. Who was the man? Where had he gone and why did he go? Little more than uncovering the only two known photos of Crouton has been accomplished. And [...]

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Ain’t it funny how Sounds Otherwise unnoticed  Dominate the audioscape when you’re sitting Silent, Away from all the bars, the lights, the beer The distraction and preoccupations  Human makes for itself? You’ve gotta make a hell of a racket to stop ‘em looking at the telly The ambulance, painfully loud from this distance, is just [...]

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