The 2013 KAC Poet of the Year, Roy Beckemeyer from District 5, pursued his poetry in a series of stops and starts until just a few years ago. Roy started writing love poems to his wife, Pat, while they were in high school. After high school, the demands of college, the military, an engineering career and his family took precedence and Roy set his poetry aside. After he completed graduate school, Roy returned to writing poetry for a couple years and was published locally. Then he obtained a job at Boeing and a 15-year hiatus from poetry. After Boeing, Roy returned to his poetry for about six months before writing and editing scientific papers resulted in a 10-year dry spell. Finally, in 2009, Roy returned to poetry, this time for good.
Roy credits his friend, Pat Latta, for telling him about Helen Throckmorton’s poetry classes with Life Ventures in Wichita. Roy started attending her classes in 2009 and has been writing poetry consistently ever since, trying to make up for those lost years. According to Roy, “…getting together with a small group of poet friends once a week …is a great incentive to keep producing poems and has sustained me now for over four years – the longest run of consistent poetry writing ever for me.”
Soon after he started attending Life Ventures, Roy joined Kansas Authors Club and attended his first convention in 2010. He said the convention, “…is a wonderful opportunity to meet other like-minded writers, to learn from workshops, to read your work in public and listen to others read theirs.” Roy won several prizes for his poetry in 2010 and every year since. “I find the annual prose/poetry contest to be a first-class way to get feedback on your writing.”Roy states. “The judges' comments are very helpful and seeing that a poem can win an award offers additional affirmation for all the work.”
Roy received the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year Award at this year's Awards Luncheon during the 2013 KAC Convention in Wichita. Roy was "...really surprised, honored, and humbled to have been recognized with the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year Award. I was not even aware that there was to be such an award. It was wonderful to be standing there at the luncheon with Nancy Julian Kopp, the KAC Prose Writer of the Year."
According to Roy, being the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year has put him on the spot to produce a book of poems. “Every time I have thought about doing that in the past, I decided that I wasn't ready. Didn't have enough poems, didn't have enough worthy poems, etc. Don't think that bucket will hold water much longer.”
Roy credits his friend, Pat Latta, for telling him about Helen Throckmorton’s poetry classes with Life Ventures in Wichita. Roy started attending her classes in 2009 and has been writing poetry consistently ever since, trying to make up for those lost years. According to Roy, “…getting together with a small group of poet friends once a week …is a great incentive to keep producing poems and has sustained me now for over four years – the longest run of consistent poetry writing ever for me.”
Soon after he started attending Life Ventures, Roy joined Kansas Authors Club and attended his first convention in 2010. He said the convention, “…is a wonderful opportunity to meet other like-minded writers, to learn from workshops, to read your work in public and listen to others read theirs.” Roy won several prizes for his poetry in 2010 and every year since. “I find the annual prose/poetry contest to be a first-class way to get feedback on your writing.”Roy states. “The judges' comments are very helpful and seeing that a poem can win an award offers additional affirmation for all the work.”
Roy received the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year Award at this year's Awards Luncheon during the 2013 KAC Convention in Wichita. Roy was "...really surprised, honored, and humbled to have been recognized with the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year Award. I was not even aware that there was to be such an award. It was wonderful to be standing there at the luncheon with Nancy Julian Kopp, the KAC Prose Writer of the Year."
According to Roy, being the 2013 KAC Poet of the Year has put him on the spot to produce a book of poems. “Every time I have thought about doing that in the past, I decided that I wasn't ready. Didn't have enough poems, didn't have enough worthy poems, etc. Don't think that bucket will hold water much longer.”