PHOTO: Poet Scott Wiggerman with his copy of The Great Gatsby Anthology outside his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He hopes the photo gives a little flavor of his town, though it was garbage day and the bins are on the street. He’d hoped to feature a hot air balloon — a common sight in his area — but his husband David just missed capturing the image. Scott’s poem “Gatsby’s Soliloquy” appears in The Great Gatsby Anthology (Silver Birch Press, 2015).
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: The Great Gatsby is my favorite American novel, one which I have read over and over again. I honestly don’t think any other American novel comes close to capturing the spirit of the time (and, of course, I like the “Scott” in the author’s name!). One of my prized possessions is a copy of The Romantic Egoists about the Fitzgeralds and autographed by their only daughter Scottie.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Scott Wiggerman was born in 1954 on a Marine base in North Carolina to two Chicago-born and bred parents. His formative years were spent in Chicago and a nearby suburb, McHenry, with four other siblings. Scott moved to Michigan, where he received a B.A. from Grand Valley State University (1975), and both an M.A. and an M.L.S. from Western Michigan University (1980). He moved to Texas in 1980, where he lived and worked for 35 years. Retired from the Austin I.S.D., where he served as a high school librarian, he has devoted himself full-time to writing, editing, and teaching poetry. In 2000, Vegetables and Other Relationships came out from Plain View Press, and in 2011, Presence was published by Pecan Grove Press. In between books, he edited several anthologies, including Big Land, Big Sky, Big Hair; Lifting the Sky: Southwestern Haiku & Haiga; and several editions of the annual Texas Poetry Calendar, through his small press venture, Dos Gatos Press. In 2011, he and husband David Meischen produced Wingbeats: Exercises and Practice in Poetry, followed by Wingbeats II in 2014. In 2015, shortly after Scott’s third book of poetry Leaf and Beak: Sonnets was published by Purple Flag (Chicago), he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is presently compiling poems for a Southwest Persona anthology—submissions remain open through November 30. Visit his poetry pages at this link: http://swig.tripod.com.
Silver Birch Press 
Scott is such a fine poet and a fantastic teacher. I highly recommend Wingbeats i&II for their challenging poetry exercises/lessons and his book of sonnets, Leaf and Beak belongs in every serious poetry collection. He has a light touch with sonnets that makes them feel fresh and alive while staying true to tradition.