once while riding across the cobblestone streets of the farmers market, astride a purple dodo with a regal beak despite a rather peculiar aversion to trolleys the ebony tears of the matrimonial dissidents cascade like tar from the pockmarks running along the veins of the last vestige of peace or love a woman in a […]
once i rode on an aeroplane a wheezing creaking wooden thing with brass gears wings like a bat that flapped in manic delight as the pilot pedalled furiously a small man, no more than a foot tall, tossed coal into the furnace that belched black smoke as the hot air inflated large sacks sewn from […]
no matter howbadlythe day is goingit simply takesa few wordsfrom my ladywith wildflowersin her smileto make it allsnap backinto focussomehowshe guidesthe anchoraround my throatto shallow seaswhere i canmanageto keep my headabove water when i tell herthat i love herit means morethan the simplicityof the wordsit meansmy heartbeathas shiftedmy pulsespelling her namein cursivealong every inchof arterial […]
this glasshouse bone prison comprising of the chemical deficiencies that form the pilot of the decaying meat golem spitting sounds that vibrate tiny bones in fine canals filled with stagnant truths gone to lie outside in a walking contradictory statement an oxymoron of confident anxieties murmuring into beautiful ugliness as the serpent in the shape […]
Available now! River’s latest release! River is one of my favorite poets and people.
my soul is a tulip bulb buried upside down in the brackish muck of unsolicited tears she baked me a cake with a file in the center, i thought to whittle away the bars, but when i looked closer it said divorce along the rusted belly, my false sense of procured freedom was in her […]
the ocean thinks it wins with every rock turned to gravel, every shell turned to sand. but it only gets a belly full of silt for decades worth of abuse. the silt is implacable as always. well mannered. polite. the oceans never stop howling under the yellow light of the moon. pulled by the ebbing […]
her voice carries down from upstairs she sings in some strange language as i shave i find myself head cocked feeling the emotion even if the words mean little it isn’t a great voice, more that of an absent minded village girl at the river singing happily as the world slowly moves past reflected in […]
Cerberus Rising on Audible Cerberus Rising is the product of three close friends; a poet, a master of horror, and a master of suspense. We challenged each other to three prompts, Cabin Fever, Letters, and Chaos. We then each wrote a novelette (~10k) for each prompt. What came out was something incredible. Our individual best […]
i have beenfeelingtoo fucking ugly to writepretty proseso if the poetic outputseems lackingit isa direct reflectionon the foolhimself youare the only beautyin the seaof bitter malaise you have no ideahow gratefuli am you exist because i have beenfeelingawfullyfucking lostas of late
drapedin madnessthe worldscreamsin italicswhilethe foolsand poetsclip leavesoff ofthe littleblossomsto dryfor uselater
the cold like pins and needles along my shivering legs even under the blanket in hoodie curled in a lonesome ball of ambiguous dismay somewhat requiring some vapid facsimile of mother’s milk or winsome female camaraderie in which to stoke the fires of heartwood stirring the embers huddled on the couch buried deep down it […]
mute without poetry this isn’t art this is screaming in lowercase
sylvia called death a bald headed buzzard yet she gratefully stepped into the ebon winged embrace of the carrion collector i think death must be beautiful an angel casting negative shadows with every displaced breeze caused by multi-hued peacock feathered wings a ring of lavender tinted perfection floating just above hermaphroditus beauty transcends simple earthly […]
i am notkilling timejust gentlychoking itin a semieroticresponseto this achethat swingsin pendulous rejectionof life passing byout the dirty windowthat facesthe parking lotin a landof broken dreams
the steeplearning curveof her bodyleft mequestioningthe conceptsof decencyas the needto taste everyinchleft me unableto gauge the distancebetweenthe cadenceof her heartbeatin my chest
let me layin the fieldsof wildflowersi am tiredmy soul hurtsi just needto catch my breaththis stitchin my sidefrom choking downthe worldhas turnedinto a spiderwebof cracksalong my contentiousi don’t likewho i have to beto survivethis goddamned jokewhere shehas to be hurtbecause he isn’tenough none of usfeel likewe are enoughbut where does thatstop beinga feelingwhen do we […]
she called at midnight as mad max hung from his wrists by cuffs on the winch over the thirsty villagers he went too far this time she didn’t have to say more, i was dressed and driving and furious it’s over, i am done, but i worry he will be back her face a mass […]
exhaustedbut unableto calmthe hornetsin my chest wishing fora basiliskto turn meto stonenaybe then, rest
my heart is still that of a child innocent protected by the mass of scars that cross my psyche it just takes longer for the love to bleed through empty corridors in this way i never forget a feeling so tangled in the web of misdirections my mind casts shadow theatre along the secret tunnels […]
she struckthe viridescentcardiac carapaceprotectingmy beetle heartsending shimmeringfragments ofhomespun heartcageinto theearly morning airto reflectthe freshly risen suna watercolor dispensaryculminatingin my needfor hersweet sultry sapience
something calls in the fractal spirals that seem to hover just to the side of my vision this kaleidoscopic menagerie filled with delightful half whispers truth in cotton candy wrapped lies tiny pops from the insatiable bee orgy as the penii explode in a symphony of orgasmic dissention i once wrote a poem backwards as […]
she smiled her teeth sharp behind her full lips that type of smile does something on a primal level to a man rewrites part of his code triggers a pavlovian response i felt to sudden reactions a tightening of my pants and a sudden desperate need to actualize this desire in a chemical bath of […]
i am no artist yet i dream of painting your flesh with tongue and teeth and lips an endeavor to rival the sistine chapel with a passion so all encompassing it would surely strip michelangelo of his feeble brush and paint with an indignant fury in the face of true artistry on the most perfect […]
in lucidityi dreamever ableto exerta modicum of controlover thesetidal flowsinthe kingdomof morpheus last nighti closed my eyeswiththe idea offields of tulipsyouin a white sundresswith a band of bluealong the hemthat spunas we laughedstole kissesas the flowersdancedin the lightwarm breeze butthe pinpricks of lightplayed softlyin your eyesunableat the best of timesto tear my gazefrom youthe world […]
i learned to give up the things that didn’t matter to simply walk away but i wonder how much of myself was left on the side of the road as i cleaned house there are things i will never get back that leave small holes in my heart surely i shall bleed to death before […]
is anyone else feeling (irritiable uncomfortable rancorous) a little off or is it the sparrows that flit around my head whistling doo dah with no great concern for the people around me as if this irrational rationale b-movie grandiosity this insipid banter the planes float in the air above the airport and as i watch […]
she stood peering out the window of her little one room apartment into the window of my little one room apartment likely, i was scratching my ass or scowling angrily at the ceiling the glorious life of a poet wasted on fools that swim in words instead of smiling at ladies that peer out the […]
la luna ticks the boxes that make up the madness bleeding through absentee tear ducts the fountain remains dry as the sad little cherubs blow horns that will never ring clear through yellow light in the gray skies above
a thin veneer of glistening frost coats the world outside the filthy windows that do little more than filter out the finer details of another morning in purgatorial musings her fingers gently stroke my aorta as she sleeps sweetly, a stuttering halt to my limbic dissolution gray skies mute the typical symphonic disharmonies of the […]
the winds are strong today the chimes clang a cacophonous unmelody with every gust that pulses through the gestating storm between my ears i want to, yet do not heed, the call to furiously stomp out and tear them down because in the gentle breeze the sound soothes is so easily forgotten in the raging […]
she and itended a gardenthat grew deepbeneath the wavesa hidden sanctuarywhere the sunis only a dream we made loveon the currentslit by thebioluminescencecarefullycultivatedalong rows of kelp i didn’t questionour submerged lifewell awarewhereverher smile leadsis the only homenecessary for me
my uglinessis bubbling upto the surfaceagainbarely restrainedby the poorlyformed skullthe fleshdistortedas the imageshownbecomes somethingmore akinto the onereflected backin the quiet momentsof dire depression seven yearsbad luckfor each mirrorshatteredin thisundisguisedself loathingequals a lifetimeencompassedby the truthswhisperedbetween lashesyet i still wantto give my loveto you aloneeven as i fearwho i really am my soulis broken drywallshowing a glimpseinto […]
feel as ifi wokethree timesto a progressive scaleof incrementalnone matterance pouring myselfinto multiplecontainmentswondering whythere is never enoughto go around emptied slowlydrainedof any and everypossibilityyet still tryingto give more lost somewhereon the bell curvebetweenunwantedandunnecessary
my mind islostin the black eyesof sharksas i lookfor youin the stormthat seems tobrewjust offto the sidedissipatingwheneveri looktoo hard i should bewritingbut how can itell a storywhen the only thingi canthink about ishowwrapping my armsaround youseems likethe closest to nirvanaas thiscollection of sinswill ever get
she kept her heart in a glass jar with fireflies tucked next to the cosmos in her chest to say i was smitten was to ignore the laws of magnetism as suggested by her irresistible pull i likely knew i loved her before i ever knew her name so caught up in the tempest in […]
i existin that timewherethe sunhas nearly setbutthe street lightshave yetto come to lifethe worldis paintedin dark blueshadowseverythingfeels slightlyout of focusfuzzyaround the edges that’s where ibelongin that spacebetweenday and nightwhere nothingis as it seemswhere the monstersare justshadowswhere truthis as mysteriousas fiction somewherein the liquidpurplewhere sunlighthas alreadyturned to mythas the kingdomof nightsecuresits bordersi existin the hazyrecollectionof kissesbeneaththe […]
an edifice to oedipus a statue to narcissus that has a mirrored sheen sit on this bench allow me to whisper tales of drunken gods having sex in animal form with queens that have more issues than freud at a mothers convention trying to keep his hand out of his pants i have eaten pomegranate […]
feeling a little too dionysus lately, a little too ready to let go with wild abandon, unchained, the rigors of the fiery chariot lend to a disconnect from my pursuit of more apollo governed aspects erato has my ear, well aware of where you fit into the complex menagerie and whispering a despair into every […]
leave the deeper thoughts for the stoned poets listening to the rain hit the window washing the grime from world to leave it still somewhat filthy if not worse for wear as the cold bones of winter settles ladylike upon the earth let those bleary eyed fools suss out the true meaning of love or […]
it isn’t that i am tired it is my skeleton has been carved from dwarf stars my heart is a black hole my mind gone supernova so my shoulders are slumped in the most atlas of shrugs without need for overblown theatrics nor antiquated philosophy i feel overwrought by the stillness in being taking no […]
pull the stuffingfrom the pillowstoss the comforterinto the firefor there shallbe no sleepin this denof sloven truth
woke up sad nothing helping workout shop cook nothing just an absent ache an icicle tapping against the cardial sac wishing for empty instead of frozen bobbing for chlorinated apples in the open sewer of my mind i have a headache but my heart feels bruised like a plum from lack of you nestled tight […]
there is an infinite etching of sorrow in a perfectly prepared sunny side up egg sitting on a plate with golden brown hashbrowns and too many slices of bacon; this golden sea congealed futures decided long before the machinery took all hopes of pecking gravel from unformed wings there was a man who did topiary […]
i have conversations with ghosts hints of memories rather than bother real people with my rambling thoughts anxieties it bothers me to think i think of this as normal it bothers me more when they agree.
a window washer on the side of a skyscraper working for spare change as the occupant glare out at him as the squeegee squeaks he is a trapeze artist so convincing scared to death trembles at the edge smiling with false bravado as his knees shake in need of a puzzle solver as i fall […]
sad like a sickle left to rust in the dusty barn with a view of fields of waving wheat sad like finishing a wonderful book that went to all the places a tale travels to sad like the lonely that only comes when you realize there is something missing a blue crayon rolled under the […]
a lone raven murderless landed on the hood of the gray car in the empty parking lot staring with a cocked head at the fool staring with a cocked head back as they stare a connection passes between a bond of sorts as the two lonely creatures turn to watch the cardinals and the blue […]
Lost in the Hours by River Dixon River is my brother, my publisher and a goddamned brilliant poet. If I could only read him and EC for the rest of my life, I would be content.
i feel cold bone weary in need of a long quiet rest the world weighs more today than i can manage even with broad shoulders callused hands i feel the urge to curl up ignore the flames crackling as it all turns to ash i feel cold bone weary but today i ignore the call
existence can be summed up in the ache of a broken heart. every happy memory serves as fuel for the bonfire of sorrow at the end. it is why sugar rots teeth. everything has a price. and the universe always collects. always.
she exists in the center point of the gaping eye of madness a crystal clear sanctuary of serenity in the clouds of insanity and despair a faint haze of sunlight breaking forth from the silhouetted cyclopean gaze softening the clarity with supple surrender that comes from knowing she exists
in the infinitesimal bombardment of invisible forces that influence every facet of existence she calls to the chaos before my unbelieving eyes she takes the different flows weaves them into a tapestry she is lachesis she is athena she is aphrodite she is clarity wisdom love a one woman pantheon unaware of her own divinity […]
in this cracked eggshell skull floats the solecisms that define the egregious faults precariously stacked to form the repugancy hidden behind tear duct atrophy in my ignoble stare she took a red pen to circle my breaches of social mannerisms highlighting my grammatical mistakes until she realized it would require a tanker of ink to […]
time is a construct an artificial delusion used to mark the passing of life a shackle wrapped around the ankles of those rushing inevitably towards the cliff of their own demise the hour hand points at the indiscriminate downfall as the minute hand forces the doomsday clock towards armageddon i mark the passage of time […]
unsure if this waivering feeling is insubstantiality or insignificance but well aware it is the varnish keeping me as unimportant as inhumanely possible the gray skies do little but increase the permanence in the way my words fall muted upon deaf ears screaming into a vortex of sound yet never saying a thing the errant […]
fell asleep with your words on my chest as the exhaustion of constant anxiety wore through my sullen the same way a creek carves through the mountains i chased a drifting balloon across the rooftops of a nameless city sitting on the edge of an endless desert facade encircling my photonegative smile losing the reason […]
the power in someone putting themselves into the focus of someone else’s words being able to wish for those phrases to highlight the things within themselves they wish to see means one of two things the words hold power or the reader holds their own sense of self too high i have never seen myself […]
the bloated never has been with the spun sugar ego craving constant validation even in the face of legitimate criticism trying to make a career proving his superiority with half-baked iterations of classics done to the applause of none a small town would be king a deluded narcissist running naked through the big city streets […]
Off With Their Heads – Clear the Air the first time i heard this, I put it on repeat and let the tears flow. sometimes a song can sum up a soul perfectly. this is mine. a beautiful poetic song about falling apart.
the return flight was barely occupied big plane headed back for routine maintenance the crew ready to go home after a long day of standing at six hundred miles per hour in the air crisscrossing the country my headphones were in with music playing as i found myself in a row alone so the twitching […]
arrived late woke early half expectated home to feel like a relief but it doesn’t the birds sing the same song the bed is there the smell the conforts the nothingg the silence the anxiety maybe that part of me that knows i deserve lesser than realizes being on the road relaxed the burden of […]
the moon reflects off the wing much like how i reflect off of you a ruddy dull glow that never quite captures the beauty of the original
ryo plays as the plane gently rocks along the currents of ephemeral fluff the stars seem so much livelier in the air over alabama as we approach the mississippi border the moon just a sharp crescent of silver hovering above the wing the fool slowly makes his way back from eastern misery to the comfort […]
this marionette has the demeanor of a dragon dragging his hoarde of empty enticements across the arid desert he is forced to reflect in an effort to deflect the desperate attention seeker seeking to capsize his inflatable cardiac distress pay attention to the way he casually dances in his seat oblivious to the obvious ploys […]
the crimson flows down the ivory steps of the ossuary cracked yellowed pieces of skull mar the serenity the hollow stares that fill every crevice pomegranate flames dance along the torches that do little to light the ebony maw that opens deep into the earth itself buried far beneath the boney outgrowths lies the bitter […]
in the inner insipidness inherent in indiscriminate self loathing lies the last increment of insidious insubstantiality watching make up tutorials to try and forgive myself applying a foundation to hide the hurt deep in my empty eyes if you could see me like i see me you’d never look me in the eyes again as […]
a last trip around the frozen civil war cemetery my mind haunted by extraordinary beauty music playing loudly in my ears the cold bite of the wind a reminder that i am still alive that these ghosts are figments of the me that died to be reborn in her eyes as something more complete than […]
dreamt of the depths between quasirealities where the diaphanous silks of rapturous latency linger against the schism between the deification in emotional fulfillment on chemical receptors stringing sultry pheremones across the electrical deviance of protein deficiencies caused by maternal distresses my heart quavers at the thought of your voice tracing along the curvature of my […]
every poem written is a piece of crumbling mortality spat into the wind to fall unread across the page the quill taps the soul as it scratches along the vellum depleting the whole in an effort to appeal to a world that stopped paying attention millennia ago
the witching hour tolls as the fools shuffles aimlessly down the street the stars seem to blink in and out with the music that fills his empty skull the typical broken sleep pulverized by the nothing inherent in transitional woe it’s cold, far colder than it should be, a pervasive chill that blossoms from the […]
we lay together the sheets tangled around our heaving chests her legs tangled through mine the moon playing peeping tom through the open blinds my hand gently running down her spine i could love you she said softly into my chest why i replied in confusion she pushed off of me the storm building in […]
from the darkest crevices(lost light lingers in phantom waves) emits limitless glowering dread alas the sunken dream of drowned hope screaming whereupon the feathery remnant of restless sighs(whereupon the dusty memory of passion died) a lone traveler limps along the uneven truths spilled forth a burned out bulb sways upon the fetid air(drumming laquered nails […]
It isn’t often I read something that shakes and rattles my heart, that encapsulates my own personal feelings and I understand to my core, but this one does it – To Artina – I will take your heart. I will take your soul out of your body As though I were God. I will not […]
just above freezing as i stand waiting for light to change there is no traffic but the conditional training keeps me rooted to a the cracked concrete shivering as the wind gusts mockingly the lady at the waffle house knows my name as do the two regulars as i saddle up to the counter for […]
if i could pull down the sky to grab thirty stars off the ebony blanket of night to drape across your body they would demurely dim faced with the comparison to the complex beauty you exude effortlessly. if i could write the words that would prove to you exactly how deeply ingrained into my pulse […]
the moon is a yellow blotch, staring down in morose despair, spectral nightingales whisper soft, their songs filling the evening air on his throne the fool does sit, watching over his kingdom of lies, listening as the nightingales sing, the yellow glow in their ebon eyes in the heart of seeming madness, the jester king […]
his heart was a bouquet laid at the jagged edge of an unmarked grave her love clawed desperately at the silk lined box six feet beneath happiness hope is the moon reflected off the curving blade pitted by bitter sorrow joy the deepest wound carved with insolent skill raggedly spilling forth his soul the primordial […]
granular reasoning leads to an avalanche of misunderstanding as the tectonic facts shift the reverie of absent realizations the last bloom on a dying vine is a revelation in the bitter cold winds of encroaching winter derailment angular denials follow the bell curve towards lost oblivion as surely as the sneaking suspicions render emotive disinterest […]
the fool had thought after eight hours trying to get to where he didn’t want to be to do what he doesn’t want to do at a hotel that didn’t want him there once his head hit the pillow it would be curtains to a(besides her)terrible day so he gave up the ghost of hope […]
the stars are the same even if i am farther from your embrace there is something intrinsically wrong with that the sky should feel the same lovelorn sorrow every twinkling light should burn itself out in remorse
a hawk landed on the branch in front of my bench staring at me with its head cocked to the side not knowing what it wanted i just told it about you and asked if it could pass my love along for me it flew off to be replaced by three fat little squirrels eager […]
Thunderstorm Press has teamed up with Death’s Head Press to turn the horror event of 2020 (not pandemic or election, real life horror, fiction) to announce they are doing a limited special edition of the entire series. The first five are at the printers. I had to sign 70 sheets with my foolish face for […]
i still remember the paramedics names the first responders the ones that couldn’t save her steve alan and rich a list of men i can never forgive for being five minutes too late
i don’t want to complain if i can help it all it does is lead to more complaining dwelling on things that cannot be changed so i fake a smile laying in bed staring at the ceiling going over the mental checklist underwear socks pants t-shirts work shirt comfy shoes mask toiletries chargers kindle glasses […]
at times i feel completely lost pushed and pulled with no say in the direction packing a bag for a flight i don’t want to take to learn more for a vocation that barely let’s me breathe taking time from the things i should be doing frustrated anxious and fearful aware that this constant streaking […]
there was a tortoise sitting on the bank of the slow moving river watching the turtles float he was a reptile like them had a shell like them even his skin seemed pebbled just like them but he wasn’t no matter how much he longed to float it just wasn’t in his nature life isn’t […]
the sky is the color of rainwater traveling along a freshly drawn chalk mural filled with particulates of purples and blue in his veins rumble throbbing with a torrential flood chemically induced at the merest thought of her whispering through his mind the world around him slumbers deeply as the coffee steams fitfully her smile […]
the sweet scent of happiness fills the ever winding corridors wildflower with a hint of honey and citrus notes of spring the heady smells fill the heart interlace through the cobweb soulstuff lingering a balm that softens scars illuminates secret pockets of joy in the crevices to be savored at a later time alas, even […]
two blue jays flitting about the branches of the browning spruce the blue streaks around the tree as the brown female dances on the branch singing songs of juicy worms brought by the rains the trees back north a longing for home as the southern vacation brings new berries there is a soft joy in […]
they sit watching the fool as he tries to navigate a world he doesn’t want to understand hoping to see him struggle wishing for him to fail to fall back into the same old routines that made it easier to control they are patient taking no pleasure in his success only smiling with every line […]
it’s impossible to describe how you make my soul feel incredibly free a drink of water after days in the desert an errant ray of light on a cloudy day an ease that sweeps through me when i think of you just you being you
maybe the sky is just a dome this world is just a prison shackled with decaying meat suits forced to walk perdition as we submit to the entropy that rules this maximum security sphere but there is something to be said in the honor that exists in existence in this world of sin with you […]
did you pull the pieces of collapsed granite from my chest leaving me free to breathe or did your smile just evaporate the insecurities this feeling of being a new person that is not new at all confounds me i wonder if this is how normal people feel all the time yet they complain about […]
the street was nearly bleached out by golden light that didn’t seem to come from the sun but almost emanate from the air itself we walked together hand in hand in this yellow nimbus talking about the world around us watching the people laughing as it all seemed so silly the rush the angst the […]
i have sought the term to describe the woman that i love a game of pains for a poetic fool one that strikes the words from the sodden mining new scars out of the aether in solemn oaths of undying adoration noumenon – a thing as it is in itself, as different from a thing […]
he looked at me with unfocused eyes, gesturing at something only he could see i tried being happy once, but i could never get it to stick, figure it isn’t my lot in life there were ladies, lovely ones of every shape and description, but none ever stayed it wasn’t for lack of trying, i […]
danger the sign had read, simply danger with no attempt at an ecplanation curving road deer children at play falling rocks my mind raced at the thought of the potential for harm that could be lurking just out of sight there was a halfassedry a laziness in installing such a sign instilling such a fear […]
i wrapped a strand of lights around her forehead a briar halo of pastel whimsy neither of us believed in angels but i will be damned if i didn’t hear the heavenly choir with each of her private smiles the golden peal of bells that seemed to accompany my labored breathing when her scent filled […]
Mike's Manic Word Depot 