Brian Beatty
Excerpt from Brazil, Indiana
(a folk poem in the spirit of Ralph Eugene Meatyard)
The local beauty queen
the one-armed butcher's
daughter sharpened
her knives up and down
her pageant sash until
their blades shone as brightly
as the faux diamond grin
of her tiara.
Her talent for parades
drove boys her own age into rivers.
At night grown men
slashed each other's tires.
Bio
Other excerpts from Brian Beatty's Brazil, Indiana (a folk poem) have appeared in Alba, Clementine Poetry Journal, Dressing Room Poetry Journal, The Glasgow Review of Books (Scotland), The Moth (Ireland), Poetry City USA, Right Hand Pointing, Third Wednesday and Yellow Chair Review. Brian has lived in Minnesota since 1999.