ONE PLEASANT SUMMER AFTER LUNCH

by Ken Anderson

I wandered deep
into an almond grove
on the neglected grounds
and would have never noticed him, appearing
from a shady niche, if the air hadn’t blushed
with that golden glow
which casts a magic spell
before a violent thunderstorm. He lurked
among the thick bushes and weeds
at first
like a sapling nudged
by a breeze, then
like a stag
with foliage tangled
in his branched antlers, startling me more
than any hunter suddenly face
to face
with a deer. Yes, Dionysus rose
before my eyes, his wild hair flecked
with vivid yellow flax, his sizable shoulders cloaked
with shiny purple grapes bulging
from the lush greenery. Light was playing
off the tendrils, stems, and leaves—
the violet vintage trickling
down his pleated abs
and staining the loincloth wrapped
around his waist. I shy
from words
for what would happen next.

Island of Wak-Wak Press (Orebro, Sweden) recently released Ken Anderson’s The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems, nominee for the 2025 Elgin Award. Red Ogre Review Books (L.A.) released his The Goose Liver Anthology (Mother Goose Meets Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology), also a nominee for the 2025 Elgin Award. He was a double nominee for Georgia Author of the Year (in Poetry) because of the books. 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.