williamconellywilliamconelly

William Conelly entered the Air Force at 17, received a Presidential appointment to the Air Force Academy at 18, and resigned from the Academy three months after turning 21, preferring any further studies to be in the liberal arts. He subsequently received both a BA and an MA under the tutelage of Edgar Bowers at UC Santa Barbara. Since 1987 his poetry has appeared irregularly in the USA and the United Kingdom. A novel of youthful revelation (Tether's End) and a poetry collection (Untested Grounds) are available from Amazon.

Medal Winner

by

Accept him afterwards,
wedged upright on a sofa,
tunneling the sunset:
nights aren’t night enough.
Why this is so you will
not fully understand;

he can’t explain himself:
Look how hot, bleeding
turmoil’s been transfused
by cooler, kinder stuff
and …

Gemology

by

              “You sad sacks will become rocks!”
a Drill Instructor, Basic Training

Speak, Diamond.
Does a stone cry?
Do tears of dust
mar this white eye?

And does stone seek
some vain excuse
to prove abrasion’s
brilliant use,

so suffering
may …

Ernest in Elysium

by

Why put the barrel in your mouth?
Why not the solar plexus, toward the heart,
or to your temple or one ear?
Why choose the palate to be burst apart
before you toppled over dumb-
struck from your favorite partridge …