THREE MEN OR ONE

“They’re hard
to love,” a universal nighthawk broods,
his brown wings folded, faded, tucked. He doesn’t understand
just how he wound up here— his coffee bitter
as his sharp despair.

Another perches close, a crippled fowl
in refuge
from the raw winds
in his life, one
among a quiet flock. Another night, another bright café,
another silent jukebox, another wasted commonplace
or two…. Oh, what his hawkish eyes have seen!

Like the scruffy fledgling ordering “Kryshtals”
in a backwoods dialect. He’s sideways
on a stool, knees wide, frayed elbow propped
on the slick Formica counter. Beyond the big pane’s icy glaze,
the evening’s quiet desperation begs a sympathy
from empty streets, and he slouches out, a handsome hustler
near us, stoned, while patties danced a sinister ballet.

THE INSTRUCTOR AT THE BOYS’ ACADEMY

Whatever subject, he felt
at home, but his handsome face would catch more eyes
than his Latin dicta ears. He dressed his slender stature well,
and what he said
most students honored. We thought the best
of him
who thought the best
and paid him homage, too. He moved
among us
like the king
in chess, permitted moves both
on the straight and slant; in short, we gave him lease
to rule the town’s raw youth.
And no one heard the voice’s subtle ring, and no one knew
until he lost his head
and, counting life a joke or trifle, took
a gorgeous minor home
to bed.

Island of Wak-Wak Press (Orebro, Sweden) released Ken Anderson’s The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems in 2024, a nominee for the Elgin Award. Red Ogre Review Books (L.A.) released his The Goose Liver Anthology (Mother Goose Meets Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology) as well, also a nominee for the Elgin Award. His first poetry book was The Intense Lover. Coffin Bell Journal nominated his poem “Blood Quartet” for the Best of the Net anthology. He was a Finalist in the Saints and Sinners poetry contest. His poetry manuscript A Sweet Oblivious Antidote was a Semifinalist for the Washington Prize.