STAR CHASER

“Beat and Midwestern life meet and intersect as do NYC and 9/11 as well as retirement and gardening (where a wife’s hands are described so lovingly). It is a book that holds a blessed personal history, one we can now all enjoy.”
—Kevin Rabas, author of Bird’s Horn and Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano

Mark Scheel’s Star Chaser is “a creative burst exploring the relationships among ancient legend, the life cycle, the autobiographical and modern day angst.” Star Chaser is divided into three sections: “Yesterday,” “Today” and “Tomorrow.” This division signifies the reality all of us must confront living our lives. Throughout the collection many of the poems are given an added richness and extended implication via the accomplished photography of Joseph Maino.

Such is the scope and beauty of Star Chaser. While Mr. Scheel may still deem himself poetically a “star chaser,” it is clear that, like the Northern Lights themselves, he has illuminated our horizon with a book of poetry that transcends the emotionally empty and hollow halls of academe and reaches out, longingly and lovingly, to grasp and finally catch those faraway stars.
—Glen Enloe, author of When Cowboys Rode Away.

These humans, who chase after the stars, are called poets.

Mark Scheel grew up in east-Kansas farm country. Prior to writing full time he served overseas with the American Red Cross, taught at Emporia State University, was an information specialist with the Johnson County Library in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, and a prose editor for Kansas City Voices magazine. He co-authored the Book Of Youth and the River: the Mississippi Adventure of Raymond Kurtz, Sr. and his collection of stories and poems, A Backward View, was awarded the 1998 J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award from the Kansas Authors Club. His blog series, The Pebble: Life, Love, Politics and Geezer Wisdom, was published in book form in 2015 and his fiction collection, titled And Eve Said Yes: Seven Stories and a Novella appeared from Waldorf Publishing in 2019.