A Ballad for Kim Shuck’s Preacher Bird

i can’t get warm

after it rained all night

a bird on a wire

knows well enough

to just fly away

i have no

midnight choir

to offer you

so i’ll rub

my hands together

& build a fire

in your heart.

A Promise of Fog

the wind promises nothing

the past just brings up

more questions.

Reverse Midlife Crisis

settle down

meet a kind

age appropriate woman

get a 9 to 5 gig

the house

the dog

neighbor kids

playing baseball

on their phones

get around

to the laundry

eat solid meals

with total strangers

worried lips

remain shuttered

behind fences

watch hallmark movies

on the tv

live the dream.

John Dorsey is the former Poet Laureate of Belle, MO. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Which Way to the River: Selected Poems: 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Sundown at the Redneck Carnival, (Spartan Press, 2022, Pocatello Wildflower, (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2023) and Dead Photographs, (Stubborn Mule Press, 2024). He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com.