Hunger review This is a humbling and wonderful review of my debut novel, Hunger on the Chisholm Trail. I’m not used to or prepared for receiving praise as a rule. This made me ecstatic. I am not a typical writer on the best of days. When I was approached for this series, my first panicked […]
he was the humdrum king of the dingerdoo nation. filled with thumbs, whose faces were a whirl of fleshy whorls. he smashed the bits of half baked notary notions into the batter of battered remains with insolent insignificance baked into cakes. scattered matters of gumdrop fools with insulin memories of chocolate streams. the fallen marshmallow […]
i live in a constant state of waiting for the other shoe to drop. actualizing every possible way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. a self fulfilling prophecy based on the recurrent data of an entire life spent in a crater as the bombs fall around me. of huddling next to a lightning […]
a mud puddle soaked through my favorite sneakers, the world weary glances from all of the tweakers, small plastic baggies loaded with a variety of pills, this realm is a hell filled with peril and chills all of the people with masks covering faces, six feet apart in all of the public places, there is […]
the full gray arteries eventually spill themselves out into the openness of texas after so long snaking through the filth of dallas to the west running over the waves of the hubbard reservoir as if snatched from the lone star transplanted elsewhere the red clay tiles on false pink stucco signals the cabana impossibilities of […]
does the water running from the tap to fall insolently into the unglass of petroleum flavored plastic ever yearn for the freedom of it’s ancestors does it relish the breaking of the shore in tiny nibbles to return all to the bottom of the seas that once were inseparable from those above and below is […]
the rain slapped at the concrete as the sluice runs down the side of the overflowing gutter to crash down over the entrance to the causeway the coffee pot trilled out to the new day of fresh caffeinated sludge to coat the tongue from the bitter taste of memory all along the railing outside the […]
i found myself hopping, curiously like a magpie on sticklike legs the angular prism of thought; catching the errant rays of burnt umber in the collander like diffusion of confused post adolescent squallor. the stream filled the soft dusk with cacophonic distillations that swam across the vast emptiness between reckonings with a heavenly keen not […]
there were these faint amber pulses that seemed to flicker at the very edge of the very edge of the very edge of my vision whenever she came into the room. like the iridescent trail of glitter a cartoon fairy leaves behind her as she darts directly into the face of a villain. they sent […]
she looked haggard hard worn given up of pretense settled into who she had been molded into by external pressures she didn’t care what you thought didn’t need your opinion sure as shit didn’t ask for your help thank you very much i liked her for the very earthen quality of simplicity and expectation she […]
she says the lack of polish the pitted veneer of the regurgitated nonsense i spill is infuriating to the image of poetry she demands with flowery utterances piss poor forced vernacular to appeal to the pretty people that stand in fields of ochre reading pedantic rhymes to one another in a bland facsimile of poetic […]
she painted her disdain like frida kahlo sketching in pursuit of identity in the traditional colors of indecisive need i was her canvas to cut carve reshape then splatter with blood bile spit and pure desperation in huddled need magnified she wrote her dissertation along my ribs with hammer and stake like oppenheimer having shaking […]
do you remember staring at the stars that night lying on the hood of the car, still warm as the chill air surrounded us watching our breath blow clouds into the sky orion’s belt seemed cocked at a funny angle and we laughed that could have been around his feet as lupus and lepus pranced […]
neither of us were fully awake yet as we sat sipping coffee watching the sun lazily make it’s way up in the east she looked at me with a gleam over her steaming cup with an unspoken question of why we left the cocoon she groaned and stretched with a sinuous grace that made the […]
i just stood next to the fence smoking the days last cigarette as the neighbor dog threw itself at the fence’s backside snarling slobbering the affront of this bald stranger daring to encroach the sacred territory the acrid smoke in the already fucking hot air the constant creak of the fence boards as the idiot […]
i don’t set out to write scene when i set out to write a poem, i don’t fret about syntax or word choice or really much of anything i let my finger trail in the waters around me picking up whatever fragments the song chooses to sing in hushed tones sometimes that is all it […]
she saw the white picket fence as another set of bars but she played along for the sake of appearances long sleeves to cover scars self perceived flaws cracked while desperately trying to stay unbroken she is the brightest soul that blinds you with a single smile. she doesn’t see it that way. he sees […]
the basket rocked in her hands as she made her way through the all too quiet darkened forest a howl in the distance set the silken hairs on her ivory neck to standing her heart began to thump within the woolen red hood as she thought of grandma waiting at home for the meal she […]
as i pulled the ripcord watched my carefully packed clothing fly into the air around my flailing form it was only the lack of oxygen that killed the laughter bubbling in madness out of my raw throat i may leave an ugly corpse but the crater will be one people will talk about for years […]
i was naught but a moth seeking the light only to find myself ensnared in her web the more i struggled against the bonds that held me the tighter they wrapped themselves soon all that was left of the me that had once flown so freely through the warm summer air was a dessicated shell […]
i have never surfed never balanced on the crest of a wave as it threatened to fold over swallowing me in the endless brine but i have skated the edge of a total breakdown as the world crumbled beneath my motionless feet requiring deft motion to slam shut the door to demons cackling in the […]
she trickled little anise flavored kisses across the pallid skin of eternity with the unrestrained sexual force of a hurricane damaging all who dare cross her path. she is a behemoth of mottled rage beneath an exterior of divine beauty. as easy to love as an umber sunset as impossible to hold as the gale […]
the rustle of fabric alerted me to the fact that i was not alone the figure blended into the shadows as if stitched together by the same diaphonous darkness a low chuckle wheezed from my liquid-filled lungs as the knowledge of whom my visitor was dawned across the haze of fever thanatos, i murmured he […]
he sets aside an hour every afternoon for arts and crafts. quiet time to create. pensively gluing macaroni noodles to the construction paper in seemingly random places until the scene he sees comes to life. once he knocked over the plastic vial of glitter sending tiny pieces of silver and green like an avalanche across […]
i may never paint a scene like vincent but i can most certainly understand his mindstate. i may never write as well as edgar but i will always be able to feel his pain. the more i dive into the lives of the greatest the more i find hairline fractures that trace the agony within […]
(un)fettered pre-order is live!!!!! My second collection of poetry is up for pre-order now. I am very excited about this, as it is a showcase of where my writing has gone. And it is a chonky collection, 300 pages of slivers of emotion. After a year of pandemics and first novels, consider it a treat […]
i may be the villain in your tale but my story sees it from the opposite end sort of like how marilyn choked to death on pills after she had already been long dead it’s all about how you spin the story putting whomever you prefer as the victim letting yourself play white hat so […]
her anger was embers my reaction an inclination to pour accelerant across the floor of our house of cards let natural tendencies take care of the rest. her passion was an inferno my reaction was to smother the oxygen from the bedroom leaving nothing to fend off the encroaching ice age. ours was a shameless […]
the grass beneath my feet seemed to wither to fade from verdant life to brown nothingness of dust to blow about as if the bankrupt nature of my very soul was leeching the very essence of existence from the sphere beneath and she sat there in her loveliest dress watching the ravens with an abstraction […]
it was that flying dream again not the falling not yet just soaring right over the lapping waves the storms off in the distance weightless painless thoughtless the wind wrapped around me like a funeral shroud a teeter a totter as physics begin to take hold but i choose to forget the thereafter lying awake […]
her smile managed to invert light an anti-chromatic spectrum of imaginary hues a hint enough to quench the superheated center of his indomitable will to cave in
it appeared one of two conditions had been met upon his possibly once striking visage either a swarm of bird sized mosquitoes drained him into the perfect recreation of a human raisin or this man was potentially seven thousand years old he smelled of talcum powder old spice and aggravated rot in a hunched over […]
every poem is a tiny cut while a novel is full organ removal both an offering from the fool to the universe neither enough to justify the pain. slicing chunks of reticent flesh to grill in front of curious onlookers looking for the next big thing. keep walking. nothing of substance to be here.
fold me into an aeroplane launch me across the sun dappled waves to soar face first into the rubble of formerly civilized vistas. make me into a crane with elegant wings to settle on the shelf with the dusty remnants of all the dreams left to decay as life makes another crater in the place […]
they called it a tragedy called a lot of things throughout history tragedies tragic events that have befallen innocent souls. the issue is that to call something tragic means there is something more to this eternal cycle of atrophy than living to die. clawing the uncaring soil in hopes of leaving a mark on a […]
he woke up with a headache as the rains fell outside he realized there was no point in the day nor most of the others as well so he readjusted the pillows scratched himself then went back to sleep. there is always tomorrow. most likely.
an ember slowly turns to ash as it rides the thermals to land casually in the corner of an unsuspecting eye. through teary discombobulation the dissolution of reality becomes less hypothetical fully embracing the disaffected disinterest of atrocious dystrophy. but sometimes a good cry is all that spans the void of suffering.
Excellent Review for Hunger on Goodreads And this one I was floored with these great reviews today and yesterday. The nerves of having my first novel come out have been playing hell on my mind. I have no issues with poetry, flashes that come and go. But hoping to convince someone I can make you […]
there was an air of situational racism nondenominational fascism free range sexism topped off with cheerful alcoholism it was just where we grew up. right from wrong was smudged into a gray area. some most escaped with scars a fluency in innuendo with a smidgeon of hateful terms in a hidden locked away part of […]
i wonder aloud to myself as i add items to a wish list that will never be fulfilled where do all the dreams wishes hopes that are ignored go to die do they just become calcified bits that cling to the soul weighing it down until the slowly sinking shade becomes so encumbered that hell […]
and out on the white topped waves the sail boat sailed as it was born to do. she could be lying on a fancy bed in a ritzy hotel but she had chose lying on piss soaked newspaper on a cigarette burnt carpet in a run down apartment in any city in any state excepting […]
her tears were like acid on my heart leaving etchings of longing that scarred the inner ventricle of daydream. the rapture of her gaze left lines of burning devotion down my spine as the evolution of her seeming revolution hammered nails through the phantasmal miasma of everyday lies.
can the coroner tell the spot of impact that sent ripples along the supposedly solid core making hairline cracks that raced along the obsidian cage painstakingly crafted to keep the beasts at bay? or will it be chalked up to just another case of broken hearted despair? does it matter? in the grand scheme of […]
i don’t recall transforming changing becoming something less than. yet here i sit broken a flesh bag filled with crystalline emotions left in fractured shards that slowly saw through the bands of atrophied muscle to spill onto the overcast sidewalk of the same nightmare hell as always. the acrimonious harmony of wheezing for death or […]
i will never make truly beautiful art women won’t sigh their hearts won’t skip a beat their breath catch in their throats at my words i’ll never be matisse rembrandt whitman braugtigan neruda or bukowski my name will never be uttered in hushed tones but still i write destined to be forgotten van gogh’s other […]
there is an absurdist beauty in a funeral during a pandemic. the grieving forced to maintain six feet of sorrow betwixt the maximum ten allowed to silently watch the box get lowered. even the clouds above seem disinclined to break the new norms. the world now has a tinge of a meth smile as everything […]
never have what is needed never get what is wanted. the invisible man with the empty account a blank slate no name no recognition. if it were not for the overwhelming sense of loneliness filling the hollow desperation. i would be as devoid of will as i am of talent. another arm of the abyss […]
i can’t even make myself the hero of my own tale. just another passing pedestrian walking down the sidewalk of someone else’s book. and i am just so fucking tired of it all. never mind. i am sure there is someone doing exactly the same thing that you should give your attention to instead. i […]
in the beginning there was darkness, the waters above were seperated from the waters below, and as if by magic with a flick of her finger against the light switch there was light. most likely also yelling that it was past time to get lazy butts out of bed. every cut every scrape every bruise […]
it’s the things left out the words unsaid. the plans made with no prior notice the hidden agenda. these make the wind feel strangely artificial as the things once thought known were proven myth by the emptiness of doubt. another daydream cast into the ashtray of abstract longing. of all the four letter words none […]
is it more graceful to say as of late i have considered retirement rather than admit i feel beaten and just want to quit? as if that way i am going to that same farm stray dogs are sent to there will be plenty of outside time we can mill about speaking pedantically on what […]
i have a friend she is a goddess that once masqueraded as a barista. she plucks the emotion from the breeze to lay lines of pain across the sands that slowly give themselves to the sea. another friend is an artist a mother a butcher of moose a maker of jellies. she takes photos physical […]
she scribbled frantically as i numbly made coffee we both muttered at each other not to when i came home her scribblings were in an envelope that smelled of her perfume this became the last trace of her as far as the rest of my existence was concerned whether i wanted it to be that […]
she smiled at me sadly a storm in her eyes the only thing we shared in common was slowly dying by inches inside
he realized just how much of his life was framed by a dirty windshield like the laziest director was in charge of the motion picture of fumbling incompetence. he isn’t insane not totally not yet but he is constantly watching for the credits to begin rolling. he doesn’t remember auditioning for the lead role in […]
there are varying shades levels of nuance to her nudity. she could lay naked on her back droning endlessly about something so mundane the majesty was lost. or she lay on her stomach hips arched ever so slightly inviting exploring lips tongue or fingers. usually all. stomp her way into the room toss herself onto […]
my future is so clouded like the l ron hubble telescope introverted with an as yet uncorrected lens. some days feel exactly like what i assume being caught in a whirlwind of angry owls whilst naked trying to figure out what delicate bits to cover knowing eight arms is never enough. i dream i am […]
the birds fly carrying bits of yarn in beak to build a nest i imagine. the burden bears down upon me as the hollow bones ride the air above. and i feel a burning inside to matter to build a nest or be the string in which it is started. it feels like everything points […]
there is a fracture a convergence that makes it impossible to decipher the dual nature of your slovenly soul are you just fraudulent so wrapped up in the lies you effortlessly spew or simply so freudian that you don’t see the simple truth as laid out by your mother’s sultry touch. the dreamhammer slams the […]
she would send me snapshots of heaven. i would pen missives from hell. there is a flow in this dichotomy as her halo appeared dulled my weeping wounds began scabbing later as i viewed the world from the bottom of another empty bottle i would remember those glimpses into the other side with the fondness […]
i woke to find part of me had gone missing over night. the problem is with so many missing parts how do you tell a new gap from the old. the ever dwindling cage of consciousness bones or impulses keeps the array of insidious worries doubts fears and misinterpretative dance numbers to damn near overflowing. […]
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our third installment in our interview series. And today we have a special one for you… No we do not. Hold on. *phone ringing “Look, we have an issue with the interview. But it is the same guy I talked to the last two times. Yes. M Ennenbach. Nachos. (un)intelligible. […]
they say both the few survivors and the lying bastards each, that the sight of the city burning the flames high in the sky as no building was spared. you can tell by the look the hidden hunger that flashes in their eyes the real from the pretenders. when they describe the oily smoke of […]
i have been luckier than i have any right to have been by the people that have come into my life. i am a bad friend. there for you during mania gone for months in the spiral. but when that connection occurs no matter how long it lasts the imprint is forever. i think about […]
Chris Miller reviews Hunger A biased and glowing review from Author Chris Miller. And I was alerted that my debut was number 1! Holy cow. I’m beyond floored. Thank you to all who have shown me their support. Hunger on the Chisholm Trail, available now.
he spills lines of darkness infused with light. it is an art. the deft strokes that draw you in to the battered heart of the matter. then you get to know him. he is hilarious. kind. generous. and. kind of an asshole. that is his secret. a rapier like wit. you somehow find yourself enjoying […]
he has a way surgical precise. he stares at you with an intensity that crushes. it is the scowl of legend. truly. then he talks. the illusion is shattered as you try to make sense of the slurry. you cock your head in confusion. he snaps the scowl back on. as if you are to […]
one time i got kicked in the testicles. it was an explosion of intense pain. i felt instantly nauseous. i fell to my knees on the gravel ignoring the sharp stones against my boney knee caps. then i saw her shoes. even through the tears falling down my cheeks i couldn’t help but admire them.
in the thrall of sleeping pills where the world is syrupy slow the will is sapped serenely but the events of the day leave the mind cloudy with excitement that won’t quite wash away the random screaming agonies. win some lose some remember the small victories even in the face of crushing defeat. it’s funny. […]
Hunger on the Chisholm Trail is now live for Kindles and in paperback! This is my first novel! I implore you, dear reader, read it, review it, share it!I’m terrified and excited in equal measures.ME
this jagged edge is too much for me to navigate so i have decided to just sit for a spell let the raggedness of this world of pain settle into my weary bones. it isn’t the setbacks but the continuous line of them that tarnishes the spirit. i am a stargazer looking into paper bags […]
i have no issue with my compulsion to pick scabs to draw with the bodily fluids of near despair. every day i shed bits of myself to sprinkle like dander across an otherwise pleasant day of nonsensical meanderings. but under the sudden onslaught of too many eyes. strange orbs that twitch towards me like those […]
Been a busy morning for the Fool. My first novel is formatted, cover is done and it is coming to rain blood across the plains. I am freaking out a little. This is my first full novel. No hiding behind poetry and short tales. This is different. And this morning, one of my favorite authors […]
broken air conditioning in texas apartments makes sleep nearly impossible when it is a stagnant ninety degrees waking every hour unable to get comfortable in pain burning up it all adds up to make going to a job that cut hours that makes survival no option while the stress of everything insignificant is a constant […]
they say a clean break heals better when she left it was a spiral fracture a spinal crushing the only thing clean was the way she got away the way she told everyone it was my fault the way she made it seem as if she was never really here they don’t make casts to […]
we made love like star crossed preying mantises. she lovingly ripped my head off after to seal our connection. we were two bumblebees locked in midair coitus. our sudden decompression leaving my abdomen embedded. she quite disliked my musings after in the post coital glow. her fiery gaze burnt into my rotting flesh.
he spat out the kind of meth fueled truck stop pimp garbage a stripper would have tattooed in misspelled cursive across stretch marks beneath sagging breasts. a sort of stoned laureate lothario to the winos and hipster types that never leave home without a flask. he never had any sort of fortune to speak of […]
do you ever blink your eyes because everything takes on the cast of an r crumb comic for just a brief instant upon waking feel like the floor is a vortex pulling you into a hellscape search for the american dream while hunter shoots a revolver. some days i feel like a discarded screw top […]
when the light fades vanishes the body is just another slab of meat ready for processing thrown down surgical steel ramps to be pulverized by the greasy hammers of industrial justice sawed ground scooped down the chute to be mixed into a former human slurry sold to fast food chains as compassionate meat form pressed […]
my favorite color is complete darkness. my favorite sound is utter silence. it is just another in long series of failings i have managed to cultivate in the dirt beneath my fingernails. so when i descend into another spiral of madness unwilling to face the light of another vacant day. pretend i am pursuing my […]
most everyone is a stain a mold ingratiating themselves into the fabric of life. but you’re okay. could be worse. now if you will excuse me. i am going to scream into a pillow.
afflicted to this addiction addicted to this restriction in my rasping blood flecked airways my inspiration tends to be more from desperation than an inclination to follow my dreams it isn’t that i don’t want more to be well to move on to succeed it is that past performance is indicative of future returns or […]
There is this story, I heard it Once when I was a kid. There was a girl. Now I don’t remember the particulars not clearly at least but I remember the feeling of the story. Another bullshit parable teaching another bullshit rule with the underlying message of try and not be an asshole. Something something […]
you may wonder why everything is always in lowercase. it’s harder to scream. but you would be surprised at just how fucking easy it is to cry in lowercase. trust me. i am a professional. not sure at what exactly. call me, a work in progress.
i see the white hairs in my beard the once lonesome outlier now pushing forward i don’t remember getting old i don’t feel old despite the white hairs the cheater glasses the constant aches the brain seems sharp is it shit i don’t know fuck fuck it’s late i woke up upside down on the […]
i know i am cranky when the birds screaming outside pisses me off all i want is silence or maybe some ryo playing softly undisturbed the birds did not cause this headache i am not irrational not that irrational but every trill every whistle is a finishing nail in my eyeballs with an eight pound […]
she sat in her car eating lunch alone with a book to soak up the quiet of necessity she couldn’t say what made her look up to see the plane become a ball of fire above her tuna on wheat sat forgotten on her lap as the fuselage rained down over the city she fumbled […]
she had a winsome smile from across the parking lot or so i assumed there was behind her mask i couldn’t say for sure but the way her eyes sparkled when i waved made me think so it is the reality i have chosen and it makes the day seem less dour
set adrift on the sea of mediocrity the status quo now a mediocracy critical yet incapable of criticism didactic the phantom swishing of a prehensile tail lost in another time squeaking along the broken bands of time calamitous collateral damages done without a wayward glance backwards
the sky is gray the world outside is hollow just another facade painted along the roadside to give the impression that there is meaning to any of this antagonizing sorrow. in my mind you and i play in the water you and i me and you mean something more than passing fancy. the sky is […]
she stares at me from across the dark parking lot with a blank expression compounded with the yellowish flood light casting long shadows across her face black seems to pour down her cheeks as she stretches on gnarled hand out across the void of night between us my heart stutters in my chest as my […]
if not for the irregular thump of the ceiling fan the world is so still for a long moment i am alert the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end a chorus of cats fucking somewhere in the bushes startles the world to life again but not really it is all subdued […]
the paper maché pegasus standing with wings unfurled in the sunny spring afternoon drifting lazily through the curtained window watching over the land with a faint smile drawn upon it’s college rule notebook skin somewhere a pipe cleaner perseus journeys into the perilous styrofoam caverns in which the fates stand around a cauldron with a […]
i may not be the poet laureate of texas but i am the third most famous poet in my apartment complex the title goes to the little asshole that put a collaborate and listen sticker on the stop sign the runner up is the guy that scratched a dirty limerick into the paint above the […]
i dreamed in it i was a beetle floating upside down in a whiskey bottle huffing ether while reading kafka in a quarantine during a global pandemic in torn boxers without cable ignoring the news the gas fires the walking dead the milling masses aimlessly pacing back and forth on threadbare carpet in run down […]
i know by the streak of fire lancing through my arm as my clumsy body rolls over to spring my mind to wakeful exasperation it will take time to fall asleep huddled against the wall of pillows that make the empty bed seem alive even as the deafening hush speaks volumes in the tenacious silence […]
and lo the fool sipped from a battered clay mug the most exquisite cocktail of neurochemicals with a fragrant bouquet of intoxicating sorrow layered depression he had had his fill long long ago yet damned idiot he is he lifts the mug for another sip
today i feel less substantial than the shadow of a flame less celestial more subterranean most likely i just need a nap
looking for a ghost writer to scribble my autobiography in audible alliteration someone to sculpt me out of butter based on my profile as seen fired from the barrel of a gun i realize i am less poet than performance artist casually picking scabs while a rapt audience of none watches on these are not […]
the dyed black hair, gangly limbs, dancing adam’s apple as snotty odes to teenage rebellion are spit over the distorted guitars and screaming kids in tattered clothes denim jacket and worn out chucks, identical bowl cuts, four chords and catchy hooks you told me judy is a runt in a way that i knew her […]
Mike's Manic Word Depot 