Tim Staley

Are You at Risk for Shingles At the orgythere’s a campfireon Lydia’s once beautiful breast. We’re here to party, but don’t be like meobsessed with the enemy’s coach.God, will he ever come? I believe in a non-personal Goda God of space and magnetslava and breast milk. I also believe in a God who spendsup to three hours a daylistening just to me. On the way home from the orgyI’m not talking to my wife of ten yearsI’m thinking about chickenpox. How sometimes chickenpox is a flashlightin limbo until it’s rebornstronger than before. Lots of people blabber on and onbut I like the peoplewho keep their shingles a secret. I started a church where everyonedresses in dirt and worshipsnature shows without words. I see a dead cricket beside the nightstand.I pick it up and his body comes awaylike nothing from his legs. Tim Staley was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1975. He completed a Poetry MFA from New Mexico State University in 2004. Poems have appeared in over 20 journals including Border Senses, burntdistrict, Chiron Review, Circumference, Coe Review, and RHINO. His newest poetry chapbook, The Sickness Suite, is available at www.GrandmaMosesPress.com. His poems have also been featured on Lively Words, an online reading series. He was a finalist in Imaginary Press’ 2013 Full Length Book Contest. He was the winner of The 2012 Luminaire Award for Best in Poetry, awarded by Alternating Current Press. He also won The Peter Harris-Kunz Endowed Award in Poetry in 2004. His hobbies include Bocce Ball, canoeing, potty training, and thinking. He lives with his wife and daughter in Las Cruces, New Mexico.