Strawberries on the Concourse, by Kyle Edward

Poetry, chapbook, 24 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Strawberries on the Concourse was born out of seasons that singed the edges of a photograph, friendships that felt desperately good at the time, and the future homes the author imagined from his first writing desk. These poems move through the sweetness and strangeness of different phases, where the residue of childhood began to slip into something else, taking shape in ways that were difficult to name. Throughout this body of work, Kyle Edward returns to the symbols that trailed him like a shadow: a single moment that stained a lucid summer, the low hum of an empty interstate, an uninhabited floating dock, and an attic window that seemed to age him decades in a single night. The writing catalyzes an attempt to preserve something finite before it disappears. If there is a needle running through these pages, it is the simple desire to mark, or stain, what was fleeting before it faded. Within this mini chapbook, Kyle Edward hopes to awaken the reader’s own phases, their sweetness, and even their ache. If you find yourself lingering here longer than expected, don’t worry: these stanzas were always meant to be stained bright red with memories that refused to let go. Kyle Edward lives and writes in Peterborough, New Hampshire. His poetry explores themes of memory, emotion, social commentary, and growing up outdoors. He often blends modern quip with traditional vocabulary to trace the cadence of everyday life. By day, he teaches elementary students reading fluency and writing skills. He is currently working toward a full manuscript of poems inspired by emotional experiences and a childhood spent outside.