IGW is
proud to continue presenting the poetry of Brian Bengtson. Actor, playwright, and
poet, BRIAN. E. BENGTSON is a native of Omaha, Nebraska, and has been
featured in many national Gay/Lesbian magazines, and HIV/AIDS journals
such as HURAKAN, DAVID'S PLACE, BAY WINDOWS, and POETRY MOTEL.
His first one-act play, FAGS IN THE MALL, was originally produced
by the Crawlspace Theatre in New Orleans in 1991. He served four and a
half years as Poetry Editor for THE NEW VOICE OF NEBRASKA (the state's
oldest and longest-running G/L/B/T magzine) until it folded in 1998.
HIs first chapbook, entitled GAY. . .SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED was
published by Lone Willow Press in 1995. He now has a new book of
poetry, entitled FIRST CHILL (published through PublishAmerica).
Visit his website for
samples of his work. http://www.brianbengtson.com/
 SUMMER NAPS I wish I could bring one of my good summers out for you; then the prickly-sour sweats waking me each July morning might not keep you awake in the humid nights watching me sleep. I wish I could cough up my will to live on the days I catch looks of fear and loss when I close my eyes in the afternoon heat. - Brian E. Bengtson |
BLOCK My words are dry like an expanse of desert or a sprawling void with an added horizon. I hold the page, not like a lover; but more the fourteen-year-old rural Southern sweetheart given her baby that was conceived in a first-six-pack haze and a mumbled “but I love you.” I stare at the page, sometimes for hours. - Brian E. Bengtson |