Dr. Steven M. Gerson, Professor Emeritus, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, was named 2003-2004 Kansas Professor of the Year, chosen by the Carnegie Foundation. He is the co-author, along with his wife Sharon Gerson, of 13 college-level textbooks and the author of six poetry chapbooks: Once Planed Straight: Poetry of the Prairies; Viral: Love and Losses in the Time of Insanity; The 13th Floor: Step into Anxiety; And the Land Dreams Darkly (Spartan Press-KC); There is a Season (Online Journal of Arts and Letters); and What Is Isn’t.

He has published over 400 poems in many journals and is honored to have been named a finalist three times for the North Dakota State University Press Poetry of the Plains and Prairies award. Steve is most proud of his 55 year marriage to Sharon, for whom all his love poems are written, his wonderful family of Stacy, Stefani, Rob, Bobby, and for the joy of spending time with his three grandchildren: Sophia, Samantha, and Jacob. These people are the poetry of Steve’s life.