Medal Winner
Accept him afterwards,
wedged upright on a sofa,
tunneling the sunset:
nights aren’t night enough.
Why this is so you will
not fully understand;
he can’t explain himself:
Look how hot, bleeding
turmoil’s been transfused
by cooler, kinder stuff
and weeping men still
emerge to grip my hand.
William Conelly followed his father and grandfather into military service. Pursuing an inclination toward literature, however, before the escalation in Vietnam, he resigned to take both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in English under the distinguished American poet Edgar Bowers. In 2014, The Able Muse Press published a collection of Conelly’s verse dating back forty-five years. Titled Uncontested Grounds, the book may be ordered from the publisher’s website. Conelly is a dual citizen of the US and UK and maintains a permanent residence in the West Midlands town of Warwick. He is married with three grown sons.
