Three bumpkins wander into a bar.
One has no courage.
One has no heart.
One has no brain.
They debate over what to order.
They are distracted by the options,
Delay other customers while they ponder,
Considering how any one option
Is different from all the others.
In the end, all three
Order water - and that from a public
Tap. Across the room, a merchant
Has been studying them.
He is thinking, each of them needs
Something: anonymity, indifference,
Ignorance perhaps. The merchant
With an eye to form, not function, imagines
There is an opportunity here.
One has no courage.
One has no heart.
One has no brain.
They debate over what to order.
They are distracted by the options,
Delay other customers while they ponder,
Considering how any one option
Is different from all the others.
In the end, all three
Order water - and that from a public
Tap. Across the room, a merchant
Has been studying them.
He is thinking, each of them needs
Something: anonymity, indifference,
Ignorance perhaps. The merchant
With an eye to form, not function, imagines
There is an opportunity here.
Ken’s four collections of brief fictions and four collections of speculative poetry can be found at most online booksellers. He spent 33 years in information system management, is married to a world record holding female power lifter, and has a family of several cats and betta fish. Individual works have appeared in “Café Irreal”, “Analog”, “Danse Macabre”, “The Cincinnati Review”, and several hundred other places. www.kpoyner.com
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