Sandy Stark

CONTACT:
Email: sestark@wisc.edu
Tel: 608-358-9804

BIO:
I retired from a career of teaching literature and communication skills and took up serious birdwatching, native plant restoration, and writing more poems. I have better binoculars, gardening tools, and, now, three published collections of poetry. Lucky me!

PUBLICATIONS:
Counting on Birds (Fireweed Press, 2010)
The Toolbox Poems (Finishing Line Press, 2015)
Home Base (Fireweed Press, 2019)

Poetry

Goodfellow Air Force Base

When I was in high school, going out
meant cruising at drive-in restaurants.
First the girls arrived, then the boys—
separately, crammed in their cars.

And how we worked at it—flirt, drive away,
return to order something— a shake,
steak fingers, onion rings. Or walk
around a little, always with our group.

Then the GI’s showed up. We noticed
their foreign sports cars, their crisp,
khaki uniforms, how they winked at us
with that You know we’re going somewhere
more interesting than here look in their eyes.

I pretended to enjoy it, but always chose
my car mates carefully. We had to swear
we’d stick together, never leave our car
for someone else’s, keep reminding each
other that we were going somewhere, too.

~from Home Base, Fireweed Press, 2019