Bücher von Jason Ryberg

During my time as Missouri's 6th Poet Laureate, I have had two major goals. The first has been to put poetry into the hands and ears of Missourians who don't usually read poetry or go to poetry readings. My second has been to promote or highlight Missouri poets and publishers. Thanks to all of the poets (over 50) who have participated in some part of one of the projects, and thanks to Jason Ryberg of Spartan press and Ben Furnish of BkMk press for production. As a result of Covid, I have not been able to have the usual Missouri Poet Laureate travel experience for public appearances. I've given readings, talks, and keynotes, taught workshops, judged contests, participated in book festivals, written poems, published a book, re-issued a new edition of Red Silk, been interviewed, and traveled around some parts of the state. I have done many events while sitting at my computer on Zoom, so I decided I wanted to create some projects that would help me fulfill my two primary goals and reach all regions of the state in a meaningful way. The most significant thing I have learned so far as Poet Laureate is how many fine poets have lived or worked in Missouri for a large part of their lives. Through my projects, I have tried to represent all regions of the state, multiple styles, and diversity, but I know there are still many poets out there I don't know or was not able to contact to be involved in one of my projects. I know I haven't begun to represent all Missouri poets, but I'm not done yet, so there's more to come. My first project was to create ten podcasts called The Literary State. Each of these is a ten to twenty-minute podcast with a Missouri poet. Poets answer two questions about the craft of poetry, give a writing prompt, and read two of their poems. The podcasts are available on Anchor, Spotify, and Apple, or those interested can google them and listen on their phones or computers. The goal is that people will listen to them in their car, while cooking dinner, sitting at a table with a pen in hand ready to write, or anywhere they usually listen to podcasts. I also hope that teachers and professors will share them with their students as the podcasts offer valuable information about writing. My second major project was to create Tiny Books to highlight eighteen more Missouri poets. Each of these tiny books includes one poem. Each of those poets received a quantity of tiny books to distribute to people who do not usually read poetry-the grocer, waiter, doctor, dentist, mail deliverer, grass cutter, neighbor, etc. These tiny books have been incredibly popular, and I wish I had thousands more of them to distribute since there are over six million people in Missouri, and I wish everyone could have at least one of them. Some have reacted in wonderful ways of helping to spread them around for many to read, and I thank them for that. The third project is this one-two anthologies. Ten poems from ten more Missouri poets in two anthologies published by Spartan press and in partnership with I-70 Review. Welcome to the words of ten Missouri poets in this anthology. Enjoy. -Maryfrances Wagner, Missouri's 6th Missouri Poet Laureate 2021-2023

Reading Ryberg is like driving a pick-up truck across Kansas on shrooms. Jason Ryberg's imagery, as fresh as a midnight S curve, takes the reader on a journey from the city to the wheat fields through a landscape bright with the " five-battery- ashlight of a moon." Forever the Salina cowboy at heart, Ryberg, like a calf roper, lassos the "quicksilver halo of ghost fire", moments deep, spirit-filled with paradox. The poet carries his piggin' string in his teeth, ready to half-hitch a "pint bottle...to the grinning,/blue Buddha moon." He raises both arms into the air and stops the clock.-Al Ortolani, co-author of Ghost Sign & Francis Shoots Pool at Chubb's Bar

The Cosmic Lost & Found If there's a cosmic lost and foundand you know where to find itthen you know where I'll beheaped on top of a pileof discarded whateverslost glovesand scarves and hatsan inexplicable bathrobea number of solo socksyour copy of the Tao te Chingby Ursula le Guinthe necklace you stolefrom your motherthat reminded herof your fatherthe keys to the lockon your gloveboxbut not whateveris trapped in there. I'm sifting through boththings utterly forgotten and thingsthat plague you with the naggingquestion of where you left them. I sit on an infinity of bobby pinsand rubber bandsthe frame containingall but the senior year photosof your son, even the onewhere he wore the aubergine beretthere's your ring in the shapeof a leaping horse Nicki lostthere's the leather belt you tooledin 8th grade shop class with the lettersR O Y, for your grandfathercentered between filigreeson my lap is the white catthat ran away one springwho had white eyes and a fat bellylying with his head on my kneeis your golden retrieverwhich your step-father soldfor killing the grass along the fence-linewhere he ran and ran. My bed is made of all the junk mailnever read and never missedand notebooks lost with onlya few front pages filled withthe insecure marks of hesitant youthsomewhere around hereis your first Danzig cassettethat Bob Dylan posterand the tape with your father's voicewhich you never did listen toall the way throughbecause it made you cry so hard. There I am adriftamidst these oddmentsthe keeper of the left behindthe recorder of what's missing. There's me whistlinga little tuneyou made upwhen you were nineabout the cloudsand the horses. There's mewaiting to be found. -Jeanette Powers

Jason Ryberg is the author of fourteen books of poetry,six screenplays, a few short stories, several angry lettersto various magazine and newspaper editors, and a boxfull of folders, notebooks and scraps of paper that couldone day be (loosely) construed as a novel. He is currentlyan artist-in-residence at both The Prospero Institute ofDisquieted P/o/e/t/i/c/s and the Osage Arts Community.He lives part-time in Kansas City with a rooster namedLittle Red and a billygoat named Giuseppe and part-time somewhere in the Ozarks, near the GasconadeRiver, where there are also many strange and wonderfulwoodland critters.

"Jason Ryberg's poems ought to be tackled in front of a plate of runny eggs and hashbrowns, late night in some greasy spoon diner where you can still smoke cigarettes, where truck drivers and salesmen with briefcases full of drugs and lewd secrets and the murderers from Capote's In Cold Blood all might stop to eat on the same night, under a moon "like the atomically radiant skull / of a bald and diabolical clown." His books should come pre-worn, covers already tattered and stained with unidentified life fluids, favorite pages scribbled on and half-loosed from the binding. Each of Ryberg's lines should be read in a gargle-y, Tom Waitsian rumble that embodies the boogeymen that hide inside his images. Folks, this stuff is weird, wild. And even better, this stuff is good."-Justin Hamm,

The Konza Prairie is owned by The Nature Conservancy and Kansas State University, and is operated as a field research station by the university's Division of Biology. It is one of 26 sites within the Long Term Ecological Research Network. It has a continental climate characterized by warm, wet summers and dry, cold winters. Average annual precipitation (32.9 in, 835 mm) is sufficient to support woodland or savanna vegetation; consequently, drought, fire and grazing are important in maintaining this grassland. The site is topographically complex with an elevation range from 1050 to 1457 ft (320 to 444 m). In addition to the dominant tallgrass prairie, Konza contains forest, claypan, shrub and riparian communities. Limestone outcrops are found throughout the landscape. Konza Prairie is located within the largest remaining area of unplowed tallgrass prairie in North America, the Flint Hills. Konza supports a diverse mix of species including 576 vascular plants, 31 mammals, 208 bird species, 34 types of reptiles and amphibians, 20 kinds of fish, and over 700 types of invertebrates. A herd of approximately 300 bison is maintained on the Konza, and native white-tailed deer and wild turkey are often present in large numbers. Members of the public are allowed onto portions of the Konza Prairie through three loop hiking trails (approximately 2.6, 4.5, and 6 miles).