Former Flame Fridays - Ken Anderson

1/10/25

Jan 10, 2025

What has happened since volume 5?

Since volume 5, I’ve had two books published. In March, Red Ogre Press (L. A.) and Liquid Raven Media released my poetry book The Goose Liver Anthology (Mother Goose meets Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY4WT463, and Island of Wak-Wak (a Swedish publisher) just released The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems: The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems (Cabin Reading Series): Anderson, Ken: 9789198959833: Amazon.com: Books. Also, The Goose Liver Anthology just got a great review: Not Safe for Bedtime by Ashley Holloway – FIVE SOUTH. Check it out.

NECRO

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The dead make the best lovers. 
They don’t bitch. They don’t run around.
I can’t hurt them 
or even make them happy. They don’t care.
I don’t care. We have a lot
in common.

I don’t have to set the alarm
or whisper lies
or send a box
of sticky sweets
in the shape
of a big red heart. 

How I thrill
to death’s exquisite charms—
the perfect poise, the sexy face, the coy kiss
of those cold, wax lips. 

And then that soothing silence lulls me
to sleep.

What/who inspired “Necro”? How does it fit into your style/body of work?

I went through a phase when I tried to pick challenging subjects just to see if I could do something with them: a mental exercise. I read that “Irresistible,” the only episode of X-Files that was ever rejected and rewritten, was one about necrophilia. So the writers changed the subject from a fetish for the dead to a fetish for the clothes of the dead. My take on the obsession uses necrophilia as a metaphor for the emotionally dead as suggested in the lines: “They don’t care. / I don’t care. We have a lot / in common.” “Necro” is now one of the lead poems in my new book, The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems.

Why Troublemaker Firestarter?

My writing falls into four categories: straight, gay, Goth, and fantasy. I thought Troublemaker Firestarter would probably make a good home for a Goth poem, which can be taken as either gay or straight, depending on whether the line reads “the sexy makeup” or “the sexy face.”

What compels you to submit your work?

Well, a poem doesn’t exist in a sense unless someone reads it. The reader reanimates “the rigid corpse of words and marks” on the page.

Why be a writer at the end of the world?

I’ve explored almost every genre of writing and almost every type of poem with some success with publications and prizes, but as for why I love poetry, I’m hopelessly addicted to it, whatever the reason— its Egyptian slave, hell-bent junkie, masochistic spouse.

Who are your current favorite writers?

Too many to remember at the moment: Ada Limon, Billy Collins, Mary Oliver, Sharon Olds, Charles Simic…. The two poets who had the most formative influence on me are Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. They taught me irony and droll humor, in other words, the antidote for sentimentality. However, I consider the greatest poem in the English language to be Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est.”

Are you a troublemaker, a firestarter, a heartbreaker, a lucky duck, a devil, a terror, or sad and horny?

Well, I’ve lived long enough to be all of those, but now I’m just sad and horny. My current joke is: “It’s a good thing the dog’s a top.”

Where can people find you?

Before I could even finish signing up for Facebook, I was getting emails from people I never wanted to hear from again, so I deleted the account. I’m not on social media.

However, I do have an Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/andersonken

an Amazon link to the latest book: The Ward at Twilight: Goth Poems (Cabin Reading Series): Anderson, Ken: 9789198959833: Amazon.com: Books

a landing page for the latest book: Cabin Reading Series (islandofwakwak.com)

An Amazon link for the book published in March: The Goose Liver Anthology (Red Ogre Review Books): Anderson, Ken, Review, Red Ogre: 9798883782489: Amazon.com: Books

And a landing page for it: Ken Anderson | Red Ogre Review