Kevin M. Hibshman

Kevin M. Hibshman
has had his poetry, reviews and collages published around the world, most recently in Rye Whiskey Review, The Crossroads, Drinkers Only, 1870, Synchronized Chaos and Medusa’s Kitchen. He has edited his own poetry journal, FEARLESS for the past thirty years. He has authored sixteen chapbooks, most recently Incessant Shining (2011, Alternating Current Press).He received a BA in Liberal Arts from Union University/Vermont College in 2016.

I Want My Happy Ending

After accepting small-town alienation before I even knew I was queer.
After losing my religion.
I’m not southern.
I’m not talking about my temper.
After the partial meltdown of TMI which was only miles from our home as children.
After coming down with a cute little virus called “Guillame-Barre Syndrome” that did god knows-what to my nervous system.
After having to learn to walk again at age sixteen.
I want my happy ending.

After working menial jobs with marginal humans for too many years.
After HIV and the suck-ass Reagan Era when we all lost something or someone.
After the stolen elections of Baby Bush and the horror of 9/11.
After my best friends in poetry all died in rapid succession.
After watching America lose the war for decency.
I want my happy ending.

After learning that my partner had been diagnosed with a chronic illness, leaving him debilitated, age thirty-nine.
After surviving the many scares and dares of the calamitous 90’s only to wake up bewildered in the new millennium with willful ignorance on the rise.
After being locked down and shut in due to a global pandemic that spread faster than the government’s lies.
I want my happy ending!