everything
is coated in
red dust
as i wait for
the sun to
illuminate
my new horizon
oil workers
sitting at breakfast
lamenting another
day in hell
as i sneeze
from the grit
hanging heavy
and a fool
drawing her initials
in the red dirt
a cartoon heart
already blowing
to the west
on the constant breeze
Mike's Manic Word Depot 
Love this poem snap-shot. It definitely feels coated in red dust and the wind blows viscerally. Good morning Mike! We’ve had snow storm and ice and rain so the Manic Mike fan club get together only allowed four of us to be in person, but we managed some phone-face time for the collective… which is always weird IMHO but anyhow… Whoa! on the Spigot! Essence of Vampire to be sure. You managed that “addiction-lust” “pain-pleasure” and emptiness in such a compact piece. The lure of the meal from both points of view was equally disturbing! We all agreed you are very capable of the horror genre, which is NOT easy to do well. Well done. I do wonder what makes you choose it for your writers conventions? Not that you shouldn’t, I’m just curious. I hope you are doing good in Texas. Thank you for being a writer! We’re going to try for “Grimm” this week sometime. The rain does seem to be melting off the snow, but it depends on the elevation. At least the streets aren’t glass where I am anymore!
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I was worried about you and winter storm, my friend. Glad you’re doing okay though.
When I got my first contract for Notches, I kind of got pulled into the horror world by my friends. I found out last year at my first convention that no one cares about poetry really except for a niche group. That said, I’m doing a poetry panel in Virginia at the end of March though, lol. My goal is to hook them with the fiction and get them to give the poetry a shot, hopefully.
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You’re equally good with short stories as you are poems. But it’s true poems have a tiny audience. That surprises me, being that rap and music lyrics are so important to people… I’d think they’d appreciate poems, but people find “abstraction” annoying. They want to know the answers or at least find them in the end. Poems are cerebral and ethereal and riddled and more demanding. I love that you are a poet.
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i agree about both hip hop and poetry. but i took poetry to the con and saw the looks people gave me when they saw the books
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Well, when I drove thru Texas years ago, I ordered a Taco Salad without the beef. Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at me funny. The waitress asked me, well what do you want in it then? And I said everything else… the beans the cheese, the lettuce, the tomato… YOU know the salad? And they all laughed. Everyone. Texas wasn’t use to a vegetarian. I risk funny looks all the time. It’s fun. But so, I hear you. Poetry is subversive, political, intellectual, and risky. Therefore poetry is Perfection. But if you want to sell books and fiction sells best and horror sells better yet, that’s also cool!
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btw Mike, Make sure you watch your speed driving in Virginia. It’s a cop’s quota-wet-dream for the out of town driver. Everyone has a “fuzz-buster” on their dash so they can speed, and then be alerted before they get caught! I kid you not.
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I won’t be driving, but I appreciate the heads up.
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