Steve Brisendine: When the Curtain Comes Down

-For Frank Challis


The Pandemic (a tragedy in
who knows how many acts)

took Frank, who had the guts
it took to be flamboyant in
a small southwest Kansas town,

the charm and chops – with a
class, a cast, a Singer treadle –
to be both other and beloved,
whispered about and vital.

Wherever his ashes fall, look
in the summer for sunflowers
ten feet tall, the color of
everything, waving even on
those rare days with no wind. 

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_{Steve Brisendine is a writer, poet, occasional artist and recovering journalist living and working in Mission, Kansas. His first full-length collection, The Words We Do Not Have, is a nominee for the Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award. His work has appeared in Connecticut River Review, Flint Hills Review, Modern Haiku and other journals and anthologies.}