Wanda Swim Strunk is a native Iowan whose works have appeared in literary magazines and the Poem ' I wanted to be a Willow Tree' was winner of the coveted Mississippi Valley Poetry contest's Mississippi Valley category and her most known poem ' August is the dying month' first appeared here on poemhunter. Her works have been chosen by Harvard's foreign students as poems of the month and she has had her work added to educational curriculums from Iowa to India. Her work has insppired other artists like Gustav Reyes beautiful wood rings. She currently resides in Iowa and is working on a book of short stories about love and romance later in life called 'The Coffin Dodgers'.
August is the dying month
When hot July struggles to keep her hold
Moving toward a hopeless chilled September
Pretending to be summer
...
Tangled in the loving slender arms
I would knot the ends
To make a swing
Under my willow tree
...
Casey hides behind an Elvis swagger
And a marlboro red
He's small and charming
He has a smile that is velvet
...