Ron Koertge was born in Olney, Illinois, April 22, 1940
Ronald Koertge is the author of poetry collections like Dairy Cows, Life on the Edge of the Continent: Selected Poems, and Making Love to Roget’s Wife (University of Arkansas Press).
He has also written a novel, The Boogeyman, a lot of young adult novels, including Arizona Kid, Mariposa Blues, Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright, and Confess-O-Rama.
Koertge recently retired from Pasadena City College after 37 years of teaching.
After all the Shakespeare, the book
of poems they type is the saddest
in history.
...
They were never handsome and often came
with a hormone imbalance manifested by corpulence,
a yodel of a voice or ears big as kidneys.
...
In the airport bar, I tell my mother not to worry.
No one ever tripped and fell into the San Andreas
Fault. But as she dabs at her dry eyes, I remember
those old movies where the earth does open.
...
goes by at 1:00 a.m. two nights of the week. I can
hear the feather whoosh of his machine and see
one red light.
...
When the Lexus hit that pigeon, he lay there
beating his one good wing against the curb
...