reality – Cajun Mutt Press

The Pale Horse with the Marble Eye

All things considered
I would take the Gambit of
the pale horse with the marble eye

He slipped silently from the fog
on the periphery of my field

Marking the little time that we have

Thanks for the update you say
As I go about our day
and I’m lost on the on- ramp
Waiting for the excuse to cut in to the line
Of human succession

A blinker should do
But
Is that right?
Or is it left?

Not knowing the weight of the day I put on the hazards
Just to play it safe
And yet
I have managed to go no further than my
Driveway

I am stuck
along with the oil stains
wishing to be

Gone
without a trace

no spark

No idea
As to what makes us human
Makes us move forward

We are the generation of promises
The generation of easy
The first family of peace

And
We suffer for it

We are not defined for defending
We are not defined for freedom
We can not see the absence of war
Entirely connected

And yet
Lacking the ability to say “Hello”

NO,
We are the ones that know how often death can be

And yet,
fail to grasp the consciousness of the day
We are your parents lost generation

There is no denying it

The truth is
We can have no authority to what America is

We have landed in a reality that betrays the word

And we can not unite
And we can not understand the truth
Only the differences that we are

We have lost the Great Dream
The Great Experience

And we are too scared to do anything about it.
Forever the in between

So give me the Gambit of the Pale Horse
with the marble eye

And we will slip silently back

into the fog.

**Brother Holland reading “Johnny Depp is Not Coming” at Gonzofest 2023**

The new face of the seeker in the crowd, Ben Holland has traversed the globe in search of many things – mostly himself. To now reside in Kentucky after having been chased out of Camelot (some may call it Connecticut), surviving tours of duty in as far away and exotic places as Iraq and Kuwait, is what could be called a small miracle. Belonging now to tribe of transplants that is Louisville, he finds himself square amid a life that is once again evolving into something more fit for his creative spirit. At the urging of his lovely wife, he is finally pursuing an active writing career, and it starts now!

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.

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.

Tag: reality

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 05/15/24

The Pale Horse with the Marble Eye

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