by Ken Poyner
We feed the beast a lone child only once each year, though we are sure he would like more. The selection process gets fully serious only during the final three months. Packs of children plot against outsiders. School officials develop their favorites. Poor grades, disproportionate features, unregimented attitudes, independent tendencies, spurious creativity, unthinking sympathies, all are documented. Even the size of families is considered. Whether he eats the children or keeps them as pets, we do not care. The least likely to properly prosper are weeded out. The evil in the dark of the woods turns willingly to good use.
Ken Poyner has eleven available collections of poetry, flash fiction and micro-fiction, the latest “The Lechery of Fish Tuners”, drabbles. He has suffered ten Pushcart nominations without a win, and has taught on an NEA Poets in the Schools grant. He spent 33 years herding computers. He is married to a world class female powerlifter, who is still setting raw world records. www.kpoyner.com
