hands on the wheel steadily steering off into the desolate land of plastic and steel dissonance the urge to jam down the pedal, careen off of as many of these bastards as possible direct this projectile to the heart of numbness bumper cars for the urban sports enthusiast euthanizing the carbon spewing monsters with deadly […]
curious curious, the lights in the sky, blinking a message across the vast eons worrisome worrisome, specks of colorful dye, polluting all of the waters abysmal deep in the shadows, beyond mortal recollection, lurking in the lost moments of time softly padding footsteps, across a desert of glass, what tremulous terrors at dusk hide serious […]
the goddamned neighbor’s dog is yipping and clawing at the door because i made the mistake of taking out the garbage and alerting it to the presence of life outside it’s domain the lady down the hall called me meester mike and handed me a plate of tamales ever since i fell from a tree […]
trapped security guard is giving me the evil eye the work issued phone doesn’t work no ability to call for confirmation perpetually early means no proof of who i am i would laugh if it wasn’t all so situation now fucked up like always things will get better or so the ones not at the […]
did i dream of wildflowers spread across the silken sheets, of tangled limbs, fevered oaths of forever or beady eyed stares, evil intents, dastardly desires hidden in the shadows beneath the barely standing bed creaking springs and terrible things or lustful yearnings with tantalizing need it all blends together six of one means half a […]
ayahuasca spirit animal, sheep in wolves clothing sweating the tar of sinuous desire, spiralling inward, ever faster, the eye of the whirlpool, vaginal security blankets dot the landscape, dreaming of wolves, shaking in tumultuous rancor someone drew a penis on the back of the last boat to freedom in the caked on muck of inner […]
i have been to hundreds of concerts, seen thousands of bands, listened to years worth of albums but the sound of your heart, with my ear pressed to your chest, your scent in my nose, your skin beneath my fingers it is a soothing symphony to my battered being, a balm across my broken soul, […]
i can’t shake this feeling of cold, shivering, sitting on the couch staring at the cloudy sit outside lost in swirling gray i never told you that i love you, but you knew it, like the cold outside, it was impossible to ignore sparrows huddle on the edge of the roof, miserable looking fluffs of […]
she only ever entered through the window, in the dark of night, never through a doorway where she could be seen, stopped by if it was convenient to her needs, not altruistic, though she wore the guise well, he didn’t see through the veil, unwilling or just foolish enough to believe the fog was normal […]
true to their word, the dwarves let me go unharmed at the edge of their kingdom. nude. hands bound behind my back. and they were even sweet enough to dump a bucket of pheromones on me as i left. i ran screaming as every able bodied howler monkey chased after me with a gleam of […]
new job neurosis anxiety kicking in full effect forced sleep deprivation to fall into a coma last night woke up tired and afraid pacing retracing every mistake that led to this place failure failure just a bucket of guts picking up the pieces of the mirror so willfully shattered been trapped so long in shards […]
i can’t tell if it was all a lie you fed, i wanted to believe so badly or an illusion i created myself, with no footing in the real world i don’t know which hurts worse if it turns out to be true but it is one or the other and i am giving up […]
no one loves as hard as one in the cusp of losing it all maybe one who has nothing left comes close new love burns like a comet tracing through the cosmos, unaware the brighter it burns, the faster it melts but love on it’s last legs is inversely proportionate, the one who cannot let […]
heavy scented floral arraignments, the noose falls on the jury, hung in my jaw, with the rest of the judgemental emotions not able to pass is it warranted, these false warrants issued for issues of despondency handcuff me to the headboard, lock me up, knowing your heart is the key, weigh me down with stones […]
I don’t want to be pinched. I want five more minutes to live this dream. It’s real and it’s here and I am sitting with tears streaming down my cheeks staring at it. The only thing missing is my dad getting to make fun of me for it.
it wasn’t a shatter, it was just a gradual cracking that began innocuously no dramatic explosion into shards one day it fell apart you would expect pomp and circumstance, and all that you got was a fizzle just an innocuous crack, not even sure you were the cause, it may have happened years before extraneous […]
six months ago i wrote this one, always loved it. wanted to share it again – me she wore an ankle length kimono as she walked barefoot through the lush grass of her yard, porcelain beauty in lunar rays broken by cloud the silky robe is adorned with a phoenix bursting forth from ash into […]
So today is the day I became an official author. I’m excited and slightly frightened beyond words. But the first review is up on Amazon. Notches: A Collection https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950259102/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_n6WECbT3DEB1P
i leave footprints burnt in the ground behind me my eyes are slitted like a goat i’ll take your heart then i’ll take your soul leave nothing but brimstone when i go your every wish is my desire my desire your every dream take my hand, love don’t be worried i’ll show you pleasures you’ve […]
sleepless nights return tossing and turning again wishing for some peace none to be found here alone without your body near me
she and i were running through a field. the flowers in bloom and pollen filled the air like faery dust. i could feel the pollen attacking my lungs and filling my head with fuzz. she ran on, unknowing or uncaring at my slowing steps. i sank to my knees, wanting to call out but not […]
in the ever connected state of disconnected turbulent nonsense to be able to connect really connect find another pulsating on the same wavelength of pain, across a sea of electronic blips, encoded in nigh sentient ones and zeros should be impossible to view another’s soul through the vacant wash of digitality, syphoning their love, their […]
i have a friend, very far away, she suffered for being herself, it was unfair, and i love her so she is wonderful, brilliant, and trying to make it every day, she shines like a diamond, a star in the sky i have another friend, also far away, she suffered tyranny from outside, it was […]
i wonder if i read aloud if the words can reach you if the issue is the writing not the expressing cock your ear to the wind my love while i gently murmur my feelings on the breeze can you hear them the softly whispered words of love and devotion curated for you alone can […]
she tried to teach me how to play chess i didn’t have the attention span to learn the finer rules as i tried and failed i realized i would always be the pawn taken by the queen no matter how i tried to be the knight she never saw me as the king worthy of […]
when she_____is hurting all i long to do is make it better but it is out of my hands so instead i think but wish to do more
she sat in the aisle seat two rows ahead of me i saw her board my heart stopped i sat breathless unmoving as she innocently shined her smile across the train car i never wanted to take the train planes get you there fast but i needed the break i knew the next eight hours […]
she was the last plum hanging before the first frost of winter the sweetest fruit nearly forgotten to wither on the branch he was starving barely staying upright fumbling down the road wobbly knees with distended belly she saw him quivered on her branch just enough to land gently on the grass beside his feet […]
is there anything as lonely as a washing machine with no laundry a gaping maw waiting for sustenance, to perform the one function it has i like to drop quarters into them when the laundromat is empty and they are all alone let them slosh about with furious need, bereft of anything but purpose i […]
Notches: A Collection https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950259102/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RjmECbBJYCHS2 Prefer the feel of a book in your hand? Now you can have Notches in physical form! Tell your friends. Ask your library to stock it. And remember to leave a review. They are super important and increase the range a first time author can reach.
it was cold, bitterly so as the wind cut through my shirt i slipped on my jacket to check the mail normally i avoid the mirror, an aversion to seeing the puppy dog eyes staring back at me, a reminder of how long since those lips were kissed, the beard not covering enough of the […]
manic under a magenta moon, the stars in the sky aren’t familiar, can’t get my bearings, baring myself to an alien moon, spilling all of my secrets to another dimension, out of synch she tracks sand into the house, perfect footprints from the back door through the kitchen, the ball of her foot and heel […]
Notches: A Collection https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NYVQPG4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_FgdECb6XTHBNQ This guy has a book for preorder. Can you say no to such an innocent face? Notches, it’s for the kids.* *Most definitely not.
the time it took me to realize time was exactly what i needed was found too late if patience is a strong point add another weakness to my fractured list of failings so i elected to man the unmanned ship to be the test subject, the crash test dummy, the petri dish, colonized by a […]
my mind is racing but there is no cohesion to the thoughts like a lightning round of idiocy and insecurities bouncing from disparate to desperate and all points between salivate retaliate procrastination salvation a fine line from confusion to disillusion with a healthy dose of defenestration seven happy heartaches eight offending offers nine and ten […]
two days in a haze a black cloud of perpetual illness sorrow blanketed me nothing shook the desolation then last night thinking this could be my last i fought against the pull i opened my eyes to find her floating above me claws in my mind fangs dripping poison onto my lips the succubus had […]
so lost without you, i was so lost in you, now all is lost and i don’t know how to find my way, i tried leaving a trail of breadcrumbs but the raven got fat the farther from home i went now i just need to sit a spell, cast a spell, spell your name […]
she set a jar beneath her pillow said it would catch her dreams for a rainy day i held a jar beneath her cheeks in which to catch her fallen tears in hopes of finding a cure we placed a jar beneath our bed to catch the passion as it flowed from our writhing bodies […]
of all the hearts offered, the only one i wanted, was one i could never have that is how it works in my world reading declarations of love from the mouth i long to kiss knowing they will never be aimed at me dreaming of things that will never be yet still when i close […]
recalcitrant sorrow, sorry, pleading for relief, begging for forgiveness, crawling on knees leaving awkward steps across the despoiled fabric of ever lasting she owned his heart, his soul, the lone queen in a crown of razors on a throne of broken dreams bloody tears trail down tanned skin, crimson trails of torturous misgivings, her thick […]
i would give anything to feel something other than nothing numb how i dream of you waking alone to an overwhelming sense numb from the moment you grew silent took your gaze away everything went numb i would give anything to feel anything but numb
everytime you turn away i carve another piece of myself in a flaccid attempt at recalling your divine attention it began with occam’s razor down my wrist, the simplest solution seemed likely the best you removed your shoes and stomped the grapes of my wrath into a delicate whine, fermented in casks of anonymity, better […]
whisper to me your sweetest lies, make me feel as if it is real, your hot breath sending chills down my spine as you say all the things i wish were true then fade away like the morning dew, no sign you ever existed, just fade away, a phantom hibiscus, to pollenate another dream, germinate […]
it is strange sometimes i see my words in other places, fall from other lips, inked from someone else’s pen is it the butterfly effect i get a heady sense of deja vu, confusion, discomfort am i the illusionary one, not quite here or were they touched by the same illness that courses through me […]
it was the sillohuette of a raven perched just outside my bedroom window i could feel the beady eyes, intelligent, far more so than any animal has the right to be, staring, judging through the dusty pane of glass my arms were behind my head under the pillow light flickered and danced across the ceiling […]
reticent the farther the fallen drift, the more romantic the words sound as they float back from the edge of reticent meanderings all of the stupid things done in vain, they seem so quaint in rose quartz stasis hell is reaching out nothing but the void responds heaven is curling up the void wrapping itself […]
strip remove your modern trappings allow me to feast upon your hidden spoils take it all off stand before me proudly displaying all your scars let me run my fingers across every inch of you plumb your depths drink in all of your wonder just strip it bare give it all to me every bit […]
it isn’t the re-entry that burned me to a crisp, it wasn’t the sudden in flux of atmosphere, the re-inflation of lungs with combustible gas it was her floating in a capsule with artificial gravity, pills to recreate emotional discourse, freeze dried remains, frozen scenes, moments of loss, trivial words that fell from their sockets […]
fear eight legs in the darkness, the hint of venom on tiny fangs, the ridges of vertebrae in curved repose what moves in the shadows under the bed, in the closet, beneath the sheets the icy hand grips, chokes, gently caressing exposed flesh fear is all in the mind but mindless terror delves deep from […]
predictive it was a pleasure to meet you and your family are in my thoughts on the matter i’m not sure if you got my last message it was the same as the other one of those things where you are going to have the same number of people who are interested in the middle […]
trepidation swimming through oceans of ashes, watch for sharks, watch for red eyes in the shadows they shut my power off again jackals in the underbrush, lions in the trees, fish flopping on rain clouds as falcons drown beneath ice recharge the static between bare feet and hand reaching for the door knob shuffling slowly […]
parenthetical fireworks flare crescent moons burst into acidic tears that shower down upon the open mouthed faces of all who witness the destruction of all they knew to be real the pachyderms strike against the rusted cogs of the machinery, bow ties etched with keroscenic vistas, tremulous eruptions of soot fill open spaces between hypothetical, […]
chestnut mare, runs like the wind, mane and tail go flying what do you dream open plains, barley and hay, golden oats that stretch for miles when i was a child they had to put a horse down, it screamed and thrashed in the dusty hay of the freshly mucked stall, the screams echoed into […]
the steady clop of hooves across the uneven cobblestone streets, echoing through the morning as the sun burns away mist a vision astride a white stallion, draped demurely only in long golden hair, led by a stern figure in black with her eyes cast down godiva, godiva, the wife of the lord, riding nude through […]
her ability as an escape artist the falling chains picked lock broken hairpin empty safe pulled up from the lake vanishing in a puff of smoke like a ninja no sign she ever existed except for the faintest hint of wildflowers floating faintly above the messy bed she was exactly what you wanted her to […]
the sounds of dueling accordians rumble through the walls against all odds like a massacre at a polka championship, blood and lederhosen sprays the walls spilled flagons of dark ale stain the carpet, threabare from rolling out too many barrels the prussians are coming, death glinting in their inebriated eyes, they come for me next
then there was nothing i could hear my heart wheezing as it forced sludge in repetition through corroded vascular nonsense it went quiet the lights went out the room went empty again nothing fills four walls of hell the steady drip of sorrow onto bare chested regret they are gone the rest is meaningless there […]
i was still caught up in the beginning as she was sketching the grand farewell it became hard to enjoy the small things when they were all blown out of proportion it was a thousand tiny deaths, a game of self mutilation, where the rules were arbitrary at best she called it love i called […]
some people crave attention to keep the demons at bay, company to quiet the voices inside their heads, drown the sorrows me i just scribble them down, give them free reign, let them scream, gnash at the carpet, smear their filth on the walls depression frolics, prances about, rearing it’s ugly head and mugging for […]
i have come to a conclusion this voyage of loneliness, the futile search for someone to share this life of misery with is illusionary the she i have spent far too long looking for is an intangible thing like trying to catch sand with a net, no matter how tightly woven, the particulates are always […]
Cooking for the kids, headphones in when this hit, one of my favorite bands ever doing another immaculate cover
when i was a kid quicksand was the de facto danger be careful where you step it was supposedly everywhere as a teen i took it for granted it was an urban myth the ground was seldom perilous i didn’t understand that it was a metaphor heart bleeding on my sleeve i stomped without a […]
tell god he can have another of my ribs if he will make another of her tell zeus that i will bring him whatever clay necessary if he will mold it into her likeness it feels as if my prayers go straight to voicemail the reception in my own personal hell is spotty at best
i call her friday because she is freedom from the trials of the week i call her july because she is summer and all the joy that sunshine entails i call her though she doesn’t answer my calls i call out to her yet she goes where she will irregardless of my need i call […]
i cannot make much, but i will build you a castle made out of sand, we can hide until the tides sweep us back into sea i cannot give much, but eternal dedication in the form of sloppy words, we can burn them to keep warm in the long lonesome night i can do both […]
why of all the swirling doubts that fill the air like mosquitos on a hot june evening sensing sweet nectar the warm pulsing of blood it comes back time and time again why there was a candle in the window of the second story room the light danced sending elongated images of nefarious deeds across […]
the porthole had fogged up due to the storms i rubbed it away peered out into the black sky lightning raced across the sky in great arcs gave brief glances at the frothy waves in one such flash i saw her she seemed to ride a wave towards the ship seaweed colored hair with an […]
the ink of her penned odes to another bleed through the page and stain my heart, it flows through my veins, attacking my marrow, etching her words into the double helix of despair that makes up the flawed being, barely being worthy of being a witness to her brilliance, being less than a human being, […]
there are shelves of classics all around the bedroom but none that can hold a candle to you works by the greatest poets in history, yet none have even come close to the majesty of you it’s your spine i would like to run my fingers down, your soul i wish to mine the secrets […]
https://www.theboldmom.com/notches-by-m-ennenbach/ The wonderful TheBoldMom just posted about Notches being up for digital copy pre-orders. She runs an awesome site and cares about pushing literature. https://roadienotes.com/2019/02/21/getting-personal-with-mike-ennenbach/ This is an interview I did with Becky, the co-host of Deadmans Tome podcast. I will also be on the podcast again March 6th. This time more relaxed I hope. […]
the weight of the world crushes down, anxiousness ebbs from the core of my being, compressing, collapsing, a man sized crater all that remains i yearn to become an armadillo halfway there as is a leprous thing, tainting all that come near, eyes glowing in the night, reflecting a light not inherent inside curling into […]
everyone of the words was another red hot dagger into his soul. how many more barbs could he stand before finally succumbing to the pain and snuffing the candle himself? a new scar to remind him of how fleeting the old scars were. his flesh more a topographical map of sorrow than that of a […]
i felt the change come over me my joints popped cracked as my limbs took on a whole new shape the pain so intense it crossed a boundary into pleasure of a sort my arms stretched muscles corded knotted up rational thought fades into hunger i forget the pain as my mouth rips grows speech […]
pre-orders go live on Friday! Tales of love, depression, blackest of black humor and even a gigantic poem. I’m proud of this collection. There is something in it for nearly everyone. And this is just the beginning. I hope. love me
if i could pinch the world erase the distance between your heart and mine tear through both space and time just for a moment of your precious time silence kills but distance builds up scar tissue restricts the flow of oxygen collapsed lung bleeding out in a dry riverbed fetid feelings fester help me rip […]
my head is swimming as the world seems to be filled with need my teeth are shards of glass jammed into bleeding gums, my hands replaced with talons, my heart a wicker basket filled with coals what more can you take, what more can i give, just ask and it is yours just another case […]
the band of gold you once wore sits upon my finger today, it feels as if it weighs the same as a dwarf star i don’t know what to say every year i dread your birthday the scab gets ripped off and the pain flows freely if energy is neither created nor destroyed, then you […]
of all the things lost in the sands of time, fallen to the bottom of the hourglass, buried by incremental entropy you were the hardest to lose on the black wings of the raven, high on thermals above, searching the world below for hidden morsels but you are nowhere to be found the hourglass is […]
my blood is on fire my love, it sets the oceans aflame as i let it fall into the water, an open vein sparks the inferno as i seek to summon you back for one more night of feverish need help me make it all go away or burn it to the ground around us […]
i sought the most beautiful stone to place upon your finger nothing was ever good enough in my eyes not for you maybe a stone from the riverbed would have been enough smoothed by the ever flowing stream a symbol of my love for you a fallen star set in onyx to show how long […]
i gave up your ghost so long ago but it still haunts me in the quiet times spent alone building this house of cards in a hurricane that tastes like your lips feels like your touch across my bare skin why did you have to encapsulate my desire my dream my yearning so goddamned right […]
did you know you were in my dream last night after i had thought i was done being possessed by the spirit of your touch yet i closed my eyes and your soft footsteps entered my mind again do you recall how you initiated it you hoped for a night of pleasure but as i […]
some days are bad days this one is getting worse the butterflies in my stomach are monarchs with razor fangs, the bats in my belfry have gotten into the meth again rancid remains of ridicule the check is late i’m overdue i’m sinking down into the backed up sewers, sliding down into ruin, falling faster […]
i stood over him, he lay in a heap as the rain fell, his mouth gasped like a bass on the dock for a moment the rain appeared crimson as if the clouds were bleeding as lightning slashed everytime i screamed for help, thunder crashed, drowning out my voice in the booming i closed my […]
selling myself to a world that didn’t want me when i tried to give myself away hide the profits in the marginal dismay of another failing quarter, drawn and quartered, playing quarters for shots of hope in hopelessness drunken anger it isn’t greed, being broke is fine when you have other things to fill the […]
she was still, as if her cloven hoof was encased in amber slowly bubbling up from the ground beneath, topaz highlights in the low light of subterranean strip malls and nail salons glass bones wrapped in copper wire like ganglia, fine rubber hosing threaded carefully, fibrous roots bunched like monocotyledonous musculature covered with brown paper […]
the sheets smell clean, like lilacs and lavender, but i would give anything, for them to smell like you again the milk has gone bad, yellowish fluid, curdled remnants floating in the tainted liquid of yesterday’s fond regrets took the remaining paints and poured them all together, it looked like a wet dream in circular […]
i don’t recall what happened after before is crystal clear though it was a smile, a kind word, a compliment said not for one in return after? mystery before? easy it began with a seed taking root within my guts, roots spreading from my now wobbly knees, past my sweaty palms, across my desert like […]
*my actual eye, the window to emptiness. ugly face, sometimes pretty eyes.
was thinking of taking a trip. looking around for what to pack when i realized all my baggage is emotional. futility. regret. depression. and a thick coat of compassionate vacancy. luckily i have gotten so good at pushing it down all i need is a carry on. just put on a fresh set of mental […]
love is an absence an abscess an access panel to nothing unfelt unrepentant unreal unacknowledged unaccepted unpronounced i saw it once oozing down the torn fishnet stocking of a prostitute with morning sickness behind a dumpster her left eye was swollen, when she smiled you could see the scars of life etched into her tattered […]
rotten gourds in the roots of yggdrasil, seeping into all of the realms, split and blackened the aria sounds i stand alone on stage, the spotlight blinds me as i look out on the empty seats in front of me the rot swims, taints my mouth as i open it to sing, the words choke […]
sparkling light calls out in the empty room, will o’wisps dance in the air softly singing voices, odes to love, of escape, lure in the unexpectant fool the sweet smell of flowers, pollen heavy on the breeze, impossible to deny follow us down, follow us down, away from care and worries, where dream is at […]
the air was still, heavy with moisture not yet prepared to fall, tranquility before the storm ever looming all around she stand in pure night, no star nor moon above, nothing reflected off of her ivory skin, her black hair nigh invisible the gentle sound of the rake against the sand, tracing around stone pagodas, […]
i am the drowned king of a broken kingdom filled with empty gestures fevered dedications painstakingly recreated carved in marble epitaphs for those long dead but never ever forgotten hail hail the drowned king in his kingdom of darkness sitting atop a throne of mummified hearts supping upon the salty tears of lost hopes tossed […]
the leaves were the color of a freshly newborn child, that purplish red of a soon to be bruise. the sunlight filtered down and danced upon the ground. a slight breeze tried to blow from the north but sputtered before accomplishing much. i sat with my back against the tree, wondering how it all came […]
woke up in suddenly freezing abode after nearly eleven hours of fighting dreams, nearly mummified in twisted blankets my knuckles are sore, cracked and bleeding, my muscles are screaming, my voice has gone hoarse from screaming for you there is pomegranate juice spread across my chest, sticky and sweet smelling, the black grit of crawling […]
orange and black koi dart across the shadow dappled pond feast and fuck no thought no sense i feel envious stress overthinking i wonder how… no it is serene in the yin yang pool the water flows gently over the dark black stones bamboo a dragonfly flits between the petals of the yunzhu flowers the […]
i need a nap a warm body to lie next to someone to wake up with someone to love accepting applications email is in my contact yes the door is unlocked
i cannot give you a portion of who i am as we set forth upon these turbulent waves there is no part of me sequestered away if you cannot handle everything good bad indifferent the spectre of forever plays heartily in every subtle movement like a catfish settled into the sediment of the river bottom […]
