In response to Day 16 of the #TheJanuaryChallenge #64MillionArtists'TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT FAMILY'
I have written a new poem in a freeverse format.
Title is: FIRST FAMILY ROUND UP and it is written in the style of RADIO'S SHIPPING FORECAST.
To read follow this link https://bit.ly/3CRvaCO

#NORWICH #1960s #1970s #family #children #familylife #photooftheday #vintage #365 #165 #emotive #freeverse #norfolklife
#freeversepoetry

The test printing of my latest chapbook went well today!

#prose #poetry #confessionalpoetry #freeversepoetry #chapbook

Drowsy Rapture Poses

They told me that a good American man swallowed his emotions with a smile, so I greased up the gut punch with a few pints of whatever was slow enough to catch and a couple shots of Jameson’s to keep myself honest with everyone but me.

Nancy Reagan never cared about me turning into a drunk. I guess enough white people got rich off of beer money while all of the Cold War brainwashing in the free world couldn’t prepare me for the heartbreak of all of my girlfriends going back to their husbands.

The funniest parts are the jokes that don’t land. I learned if you balance your life on a barstool you’ll eventually hit the floor and no one will be there to crack a smile. With a throbbing spine pressed to a concrete floor I prayed passed God and Nancy Reagan for a mushroom cloud to turn my life into some kind of gray dust.

The end never came. The Russians never got around to invading and every text book I held on the back of my neck during the air raid drills of my youth omitted the chapters on life after survival. I’m learning to make it up as I go along, with dry guts and a clear head. If everything really is going down in flames I at least want to be able to remember it the next day.

#poetry #confessionalpoetry #freeversepoetry #alcoholism #sobriety #sober

Here's the poem "bis" from my most recent chapbook "13 Pieces".

There's a link in my bio if you'd like to read more.

(text for the visually impaired)

bis

We met in dive bars and
in run-down arcades
like teenage chainsaws
cutting through the summer air,
echoing laughter and love letters
behind drywall in abandoned buildings
where we phonetically spelled out our
infatuation in thirteenth pieces
across blistered spray paint
covering rusted train cars
like a nightgown on a wedding night.
And I'll kiss you while you exhale,
so I can taste the day's end
swirling with the subtext of hope
and the beauty in dead things
and catching your breath
and the feeling of resurrection
and knowing that tomorrow night
will come calling.
And when that happens
we will answer.

#poetry #confessionalpoetry #freeversepoetry #prose #prosepoetry #streetpoetry