Aaron D. Wiegert is a poet based in Des Moines, Iowa, exploring the quiet ruptures in human nature and the existential stillness of daily life. He has been publishing for nearly two decades.
An Autumn Skeleton
Car tires crush crabapples with the sound of distant cannons shade trees explode with golden leaves showering the digging squirrel
his tail doubles as a decoy for the hawk who circles a stillborn plane climbing the sky’s pregnant grey as the sun peeks like a creep
setting without stimulant, silent as a widow crowning the skeleton trees where children push a tire through the street of cider.
(This poem was first published by Drunk Monkeys.)
About
Aaron D. Wiegert is a poet based in Des Moines, Iowa. His work explores the weight of the unsaid, the quiet ruptures in human nature, and the existential stillness of daily life.
Eschewing the digital for the draft, he composes primarily in black pen on yellow legal pads—a process dedicated to the deliberate rhythm of ink on paper. His recent work has been featured in Lyrical Iowa, Levitate, & Eunoia Review and is forthcoming in Midwest Quarterly, Double Dutch Magazine, & Slipstream. His first full-length collection of poetry ‘A Portrait of Energy’ is forthcoming from Luchador Press.
He received a BA in Creative Writing from Iowa State University and dedicated six years to the literary community as poetry editor for Drunk Monkeys & interview editor for Hermeneutic Chaos. When away from the page, he can be found running the trails of Iowa or people-watching at a local coffee shop, finding poetry in the quiet spaces between wanderings.
Explore more of Aaron’s work through his 2014 interview with Terpsichore’s Atrium or listen to a reading of Goodnight Song at Quibble Lit.
Selected Works
Talking to the Mirror — Eunoia Review, 2026
Something Approximate—Neon & Smoke, 2026
Signal—Quibble Lit: Special, 2025
Mississippi T—The Museum of Americana, Fall (2014)
Allen Ginsberg—The South Carolina Review, 43.2 (2011)
Awards and Recognition
Finalist—Poetry of the Plains & Prairies (POPP) Award (North Dakota State University, 2026)
for the chapbook A Portrait of Energy
Second Place—Lucille Morgan Wilson Award (Lyrical Iowa, 2025)
for the poem Parking
Nomination—Best of the Net (2012)
by Drunk Monkeys for the poem The Taste of Kerosene
Contact
While most of my time is spent away from the screen, I value the slow exchange of ideas. I welcome thoughtful inquiries regarding my work and look forward to reading your words. Please allow a few days for a handwritten-paced response.