backward glance
he thought of looking in the mirror
but that’s not where he saw
the boy walking alone
between a pasture and a glowing
horizon beyond a mammoth
swamp in its season of fire
holding his lunch
in a paper sack
holding his dreams
yet undreamed
sensing a wonder
without wondering
just wandering
like a migrating cur-
lew or a solitary
sailing crow
first published in verse-virtual
BIO: Tom Weiss
I grew up on a cattle ranch on the eastern margin of The Everglades in an area that is now suburban Ft. Lauderdale. Having attended boys boarding schools from the second grade through high school likely twisted my psyche; but, I seem to write mostly love poems, so there you go.
I moved to Knoxville in 1974 intending to stay a year, and I’ve been here ever since, so it looks like I’m here to stay.
I spent a lifetime toiling in commercial real estate management and development until the pandemic retired me kicking and screaming, kindly allowing me to come out of the literary closet. My publishing history extends all the way back to December 2021. Nine poems have been published in four journals to date as I’m also working on my short fiction voice. Appearing in this journal with these remarkable photographers is a waking wet dream.
Tom Weiss
2614 Fairmont Blvd.
Knoxville, TN 37917
865.607.5500
BIO: Nancy L McCrary
Nancy McCrary founded South x Southeast photomagazine in 2011. In 2015 she began SxSE photoworkshops, followed by the opening of SxSE photogallery in Molena, Georgia in 2017. From 2005 – 2013 she was co-director of SlowExposures Photography Festival in Concord, Georgia. Prior to South x Southeast she was managing editor of a number of various niche magazines including International Tattoo Art, PopStar!, and Mutts. She resides on her farm in Georgia.
