O:JA&L Poetry: All forms & styles
Prose Poetry

Ken Poyner

UNPROFITTING PROGRESS

Barrelman (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative

From the town just one river over there is talk of clown emancipation.  There are too many clown rustlers there for the idea to be taken seriously – but some of the most dangerous ideas start as unserious.  I think perhaps it comes of our clowns being more in demand than theirs.  While we supply circuses and fairs, they make-do with little more than clown-o-grams and the birthday parties of unspectacular children.  The only reasonable clowns they pen are those they steal from us.  We complain, but overlook their rustling.  A symbiosis may keep them longer, for profit, approving the trade.

 

About the writer:
Ken’s nine collections of flash fiction and speculative poetry are available from most web booksellers. He was an information warrior for thirty-three years and now supports full time his wife’s powerlifting. Recent work has appeared in Analog, Café Irreal, Mobius, and Tiny Molecules.

Image: Barrelman (AI-assisted digital image) by O:JA&L staff creative. Proprietary image. 2025.

OJAL Art Incorporated, publishing since 2017 as OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L) and its imprint Buttonhook Press, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation supporting writers and artists worldwide.
Explore O:JA&L’s Buttonhook Press offerings on Amazon.
Subscribe to the O:JA&L YouTube channel.
Become an O:JA&L Member through Patreon.
Follow O:JA&L on Facebook.
Support Pamelyn Casto’s text for writers: Flash Fiction: Alive in the Flicker
Support O:JA&L’s free presses.