Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 05/10/24

a broken life

picking up the pieces
of a broken dream
a broken life, all the
broken memories of
growing up poor
and knowing it

how your father
worked all the
time, not because
he loved the money

but because he hated
being around his family

and how your mother
broke her back trying
to make it all work,
raise two kids, have
the perfect middle
class life

more bullshit that these
people somehow actually
thought was possible

reality slapped me in
the face the first time
i bought a brick from
a cadillac

knew damn well
i was in way over
my head

©2024 J.J. Campbell All rights reserved.

Brother Campbell

J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is old enough to know better. He’s been widely published over the years, most recently at Synchronized Chaos, Horror Sleaze Trash, The Beatnik Cowboy, The Asylum Floor and Disturb the Universe Magazine. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https//:evildelights.blogspot.com)

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 09/06/23

A Broken Language

I open myself
Fully

I dig through
My past

Trying to write
The pain away

I just sit here
And cry

Are tears words

Once they’ve fallen
Upon the page

I open myself
Fully

I dig deep
I wade

Through what was forgotten

For reasons

Unspoken reasons

These tears fall

These words
Born of memories

Once blacked out
Put in a box

Under a box
Behind a box
Within a closet

Door’s locked

Hidden key

I open the door

I open myself
Fully

Trying to write
It all away

The page fills with tears

These words
All end up smeared

Forming a broken
Language

Very few

Care enough to

Understand

©2023 Michael Duckwall All rights reserved.

Brother Duck

Michael E. Duckwall was born and raised in the Ohio Valley. Growing up in a small town that most people have never even heard of, Blocher, Indiana. He’s been writing poetry since late elementary school and hasn’t shared his work with anyone until the past couple of years. Now that he’s opened up, he has so much that he wants to contribute to the writing community. This is how Michael describes his poems: “I don’t write, I release. I’m not sure if I could hold any of this in, even if I wanted to. Poetry.. my therapy, my friend, my release.”

Brother Duck also has a new book available; Ramblings of a Recovering Poet: