House on Fire
The heroin Junkies
Like bite sized slices of death
To escape the pain of life
And the meth-heads like
Rocket fuel to the brain
To imagine a world
Better than the one that is
And there is the pot head
Creating a hazy space
Of zen
To escape the chaos
And the alcoholic
Embracing pain while numb
And then there are the abstracts
Who get high on art, poetry
Fiction and the movies
Escaping through their own
Imagination and will
I understand them all
It is those others who
Reading this, think themselves
Superior to the rest
Those that mainline reality
And revel in a world
Where those that have it all
Eat the bones of those not
Fortunate enough to
Be born with that silver spoon
It is those, well adjusted
Inheritors of this
House on fire that I have
No warmth in my heart for.
©2021 Jesse James Kennedy All rights reserved.
Jesse James Kennedy is an American novelist and poet born in St. Louis Missouri. After a brief stint in the Army, he spent a good decade running wild, reading, and sharpening his writing skills. His first novel, Missouri Homegrown, was published by Perfect Crime Books to strong national reviews from Publishers Weekly: “Kennedy shows some impressive story telling chops in this high-action, heavy-body-count page turner… Not for the faint of heart.” And Booklist: “Fast-moving, wildly violent… Kennedy’s novel is vivid and rich in character,” and was nominated for the best novel by a debut author award by the National Thriller Writers. His second novel, Tijuana Mean, was published by the same publisher and also received a great national review from Booklist: “Kennedy’s involvement with his material has deepened. In heightened language, he explores the odd bond between cops and criminals, the poisonous tension between father and son. There’s a sixties vibe, too, with LSD visions and the Grateful Dead on car radios. These are gripping, beautifully executed scenes.” And his third novel, Black Hills Reckoning was published in May of 2021. His poetry and fiction have appeared in House of Horrors 2, Lummox no. 9, and the international poetry compilation Yearnings. These days he can usually be found somewhere in the rural Midwest writing and consuming copious amounts of bottom shelf whiskey. All of his work is available on Amazon.
