Epitaph
Bad habits came with fame and wealth;
they left him quite a mess.
He lost his family, friends, and health
and died of his success.
Robert West‘s poems have appeared in venues including Light, Still, Poetry, Alabama Literary Review, Tar River Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, and Ted Kooser’s syndicated column and website “American Life in Poetry.” His latest collection is the chapbook Convalescent (Finishing Line Press, 2011). With Jonathan Greene he is co-editor of Succinct: The Broadstone Anthology of Short Poems (Broadstone Books, 2013). He teaches at Mississippi State University.