Marie Asner
2011 Kansas Senior Poet Laureate

Marie Asner of Overland Park has won one other Senior Poet Laureate award in the past and we welcome her back this year. She is currently celebrating 31 years as a film critic in the greater Kansas City area, and 21 years as a film panelist for KCUR-FM (NPR-Kansas City). She is a retired music teacher and church organist who is now a magazine editor/workshop presenter/ film critic. Marie’s 5,100+ bylines make her a role model for aspiring writers.


KANSAS SUMMER

burnished horses breathe slowly
tails moving in 2/2 time

synchronized brown bees
vibrate across the flowered grass
moving toward an old cottonwood tree
at the end of the field

hay is rolled in the pasture
by sweat-driven machines...
there is something worth saving here

dusk, and sapphire stars begin to fall
point-to-point across the sky

spread your blanket under a pale summer moon
and feast on dripping wild ripe strawberries
just right for all concerned

Marie Asner