And then your wife turns to you and says "I'll do anything you want".

And it's the saddest moment of your life.

(from "Almost Over", 1983)

Hart Menichken

Menichken was born in Oregon in 1944. He worked as a taxidermist until 1978, when he won a substantial sum in an illegal poker tournament. His winnings enabled him to quit his job and dedicate himself to writing poetry and to paint (mostly small landscapes in watercolor).

His poetry is almost always narrative, and as time went on became ever more focused and condensed. His last published book, "Almost Over", consists of 100 short poems (none longer than 4 lines) centered on what seems to be a single day in a small mid-western community. Suffused in melancholy, only the occasional outburst of rage seems to break through the surface of quiet domestic failure.

Menichken died in 1986.

A.F. Bytt (red). Taxonomy of Forgotten Poets of the 20th Century. Buffalo; University of West Seneca. 1993. P. 113.