Welcome to Steven Duncan-a new UTSPS member

I (Lin Floyd) met Steven Duncan at the recent UTSPS April Awards Festival in Provo held last weekend. He won lots of awards for his excellent poetry. Here's some info he shared about himself: Steven Duncan is a Utah Valley poet whose writing has been published by Silver Birch Press, Rock Canyon Poets, Prolific Press, and others. He lived in Siberia for two years as a missionary for the LDS church and now speaks fluent Russian. Steven loves both written and spoken word poetry, and enjoys spending his evenings playing with language and exploring new forms of expression. He recently graduated from Brigham Young University and will attend medical school this fall in Dallas, Texas. See stevenduncan.tumblr.com/poems

The Other Side of Paradise

For F. Scott Fitzgerald

Paradise is not a warm place.

It is not a glass of milk

creamy and sweet,

left on the table

to turn over in a week.

It is chilling, bracing.

There are no stagnant souls

in need of stirring

in God’s cupped palms.

Paradise is not a quiet place.

It is not an empty hallway

waiting for an echo

to paint across the walls.

It is deafening, gripping.

No man there will speak

without a tremble.

Earth is milky and mild.

Earth is silent when it should speak.

Heaven is one voice short of a protest.