Poems Well Lit

Joy in a paper shell.

Coldwell Daniel IV lives in Memphis and Houston with his wife, fellow writer Ann Walton Sieber, and their two cats. Coldwell, also known as Khyber, grew up in the South. Khyber has been writing poetry and fiction for more than 30 years, and is a familiar face in Memphis writing and acting communities. In 1991 he helped found Our Own Voice theater troupe, dedicated to mental health expression and empowerment. Still going strong, Our Own Voice has produced many of Khyber's plays, including his five-play series about John Wangdoodle Doe, an "average John Doe" mental health consumer. For several years, Khyber was known around Memphis as part of the Freak Engine, a notorious comedy improv group performing at midnight to crazed crowds. A visual artist as well as verbal, Khyber runs It's a Good Sign Design graphic design company, creating posters for plays and concerts. Both graduates of St. John's College, Khyber and his wife are collaborating on several website/book projects, such as an insiders' travel series called the Bonadventure Guides. His poetry has appeared in numerous collections and publications, including Faith, Hope and Recovery in Letters 2009 (Middle Tennessee Mental Health and Substance Abuse Coallition), and Hieroglyph (Pirean Society of Southwest Tennessee Community College, Memphis). He is part of the Delta Fringe, an offshoot of the Memphis Writers' Ensemble. Poems Well Lit is the first in a series of chapbooks Khyber is organizing of his body of work; future chapbooks include Tell Pitiful Story, on mental health themes, and a collection of 50 sonnets. Raised Episcopalian, Khyber was an acolyte as a boy. He became a Quaker as an adult, and is a member of Memphis Friends Meeting. The Quakers' concept of heeding the inner Light helped guide Poems Well Lit.