was born and raised in Normal, Illinois. He spent ten years in San Francisco before returning to school and now lives in Wichita, Kansas, with his wife, Joan, also a writer. His grown daughters, Catherine and Maggie, are now pursuing their own careers and don’t write often enough. He has published poetry in a number of literary journals, but Suspension is his first chapbook. His collection of short stories, Hot Fudge, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1990. He teaches at Wichita State University.
Sample Work
Danvers, Illinois
There were words
straight as corn,
simple to the tongue as corn,
sentences seried like a field
in neat geometrics;
and there were moments
when the wind stopped
and the corn stood silent
and heat etched whorls
like rolled glass above the road,
when we lifted our heads
and listened.
Richard Spilman was born and raised in Normal, Illinois. He spent ten years in San Francisco before returning to school and now lives in Wichita, Kansas, with his wife, Joan, also a writer. His grown daughters, Catherine and Maggie, are now pursuing their own careers and don’t write often enough. He has published poetry in a number of literary journals, but