tears – Cajun Mutt Press

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 07/03/24

July 3, 2024 James D. Casey IV

Liberty Weeps

The Statue of Liberty weeps, her torch has been drown out
by the blood of the innocent.

Lives lost, in unjust killings.

The chains at her feet have been reforged, by laws of men
who are lesser than those they govern.

Her book is tattered, worn
full of names, full of death.

When will our people open their eyes and see through all of these lies?
All of these unconstitutional laws that have been written.

All of our freedoms we have lost, to pay more taxes
to give more power to the government.

She just needs to throw down her once majestic crown
because liberty no longer rules this land.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

None of this means anything anymore.

The Statue of Liberty weeps, her torch has been drown out
by the blood of the innocent.

Michael E. Duckwall was born and raised in the Ohio Valley. A featured poet at the 10th and final Gonzofest in Louisville Ky. His poem “Making Messes” was included in the anthology Encore released in January 2023, and his first book of poetry The Ramblings of a Recovering Poet was published by Pure Sleeze Press in July 2023. Cajun Mutt Press recently published his collection of poetry and artwork titled 7.2 SkullQuake in February 2024. This is how he 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.”

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 09/06/23

September 6, 2023 James D. Casey IV

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

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:

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 07/24/23

July 24, 2023July 24, 2023 James D. Casey IV

Memories Past
(Hillbilly Daddy)

I settle into my thoughts
zigzagging between tears
my fathers’ grave—
Tippecanoe River
Indiana 1982.
Over now,
a hillbilly country
like the flow
catfish memories
raccoons in trees
coon dogs tracking
on the river bank,
the hunt.
Snapping turtles
in the boat
offline—
river flakes
to ice—
now covered
thick snow.

Michael Lee Johnson lived ten years in Canada during the Vietnam era. Today he is a poet in the greater Chicagoland area, IL. He has 284 YouTube poetry videos. Michael Lee Johnson is an internationally published poet in 44 countries, a song lyricist, has several published poetry books, has been nominated for 6 Pushcart Prize awards, and 6 Best of the Net nominations. He is editor-in-chief of 3 poetry anthologies, all available on Amazon, and has several poetry books and chapbooks. He has over 453 published poems. Michael is the administrator of 6 Facebook Poetry groups. Member Illinois State Poetry Society: http://www.illinoispoets.org/.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 09/28/22

September 28, 2022 James D. Casey IV

EACH WAVE HAS A NAME

an echo
in the hallway,
the beauty
of her breath
remains
in the remember
album of
youth and the
life of speech

where parts of
separation
never run
out of tears
in the sacred air
of salvation and
imagination
between the stars

Dr. Singer has had over 1,200 poems published on the internet, magazines and in books and is a Pushcart Award Nominee. Some of the magazines that have accepted his poems for publication are: Westward Quarterly, Jerry Jazz, SP Quill, Avocet, Underground Voices, Outlaw Poetry, Literary Fever, Dance of my Hands, Language & Culture, The Stray Branch, Tipton Poetry Indigo Rising, Down in the Dirt, Fullosia Press, Orbis, Penwood Review, Subtle Tea, Ambassador Poetry Award, Massachusetts State Poetry Society. Louisiana State Poetry Society Award. Readers Award Orbis Magazine 2019. Arizona State Poetry Award 2020. Mad Swirl Anthology 2018, 2019.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 03/20/19

March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 James D. Casey IV

Storms

We live for moments like this,
you and I,
cooled by the safe-silence
of deadened air–
a stillness so heavy
it falls,
crashing around our feet
with the tumult
of resting heartbeats.
I can think.
You can breathe.
We can just…be
for a moment,
until…
But nothing lasts forever
in the eye.
Tears—like rain—must fall,
staining,
tattering cheeks
and lips,
eroding the ground
beneath us,
where we stand.
And that deadly call
within me—
like the wind—
must howl,
breaking the chain of calm
that threatens
to drown
me
in the deep
of my own waters.
Nothing
can save us.
Not you.
Not me.
Not all the friends in the world.
I am lost
without the thunder.
Without the swell
and crashing of waves.
The murk
that lies
beneath the surface.
My quiet slips away
and I
howl…
driving you,
lovingly,
to warm shelter
away
from me
and my storms.
Just remember me, fondly,
dear friend…when it rains.

David Estringel is an avid reader, poet, and writer of fiction, creative non-fiction, & essays. His work has been accepted and/or published by Specter Magazine, Literary Juice, Foliate Oak Magazine, Indiana Review, Terror House Magazine, Expat Press, 50 Haikus, littledeathlit, Down in the Dirt Magazine, Route 7, Setu Bilingual Journal, Paper Trains, The Elixir Magazine, Soft Cartel, Harbinger Asylum, Open Arts Forum, and The Good Men Project. He is currently a Contributing Editor (fiction) at Red Fez, editor/columnist at The Good Men Project, and an editor/writer at The Elixir Magazine. David can be found on Twitter (@The_Booky_Man) and his blog The Booky Man.