I picture you
when aura first ignites: an aspen leaf trembling
in calm.
The teacher crackles. The chalk turns green.
Your classmates, counterclockwise, back away.
Then a sharp cry!— as in grief
or joy. (Who screamed
through your mouth’s big O?)
Your head jerks back
for a kiss. What black!
Or have you just gone blind?
The floor, on impulse, slaps your face.
But now some god —say, Love!— is shaking you
by the shoulders
as if a bully shook you, red
with rage.
So that’s what it’s like— the socket’s flash!
So that’s what it’s like— the chair!
Now we both know
why this fit is called divine.
Island of Wak-Wak (a Swedish publisher) just released Ken Anderson’s The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems. Red Ogre Review Books (L.A.) and Liquid Raven Media recently released his The Goose Liver Anthology (Mother Goose meets Spoon River Anthology). His first poetry book was The Intense Lover. Coffin Bell Journal nominated his poem “Blood Quartet” for the 2024 Best of the Net anthology. He was a finalist in the 2021 Saints and Sinners poetry contest. His poetry manuscript A Sweet Oblivious Antidote was a Semifinalist for the 2024 Washington Prize.
