time – Cajun Mutt Press

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 02/14/24

February 14, 2024 James D. Casey IV

Teen Angel

Even as prepubescent kids we recognized
the erotic possibilities of Annette Funicello,
a Mouseketeer with budding breasts,
a full six years older than me, pure girl.
We hung on her roles
in the Spin and Marty serials,
Anita Cabrillo in the Zorro series,
adolescent fancies exploding inside us.

But it was in her early twenties,
already at the mercy of our hormones,
in her series of Beach Party films,
alongside Frankie Avalon,
that she really featured in our prurient fantasies.
Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach,
Pajama Party, Beach Blanket Bingo,
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.
Annette as Dee Dee in Beach Blanket Bingo
sent our visions and desires into overdrive.

Only 45 when she began having balance issues, dizziness,
while promoting her Frankie Avalon reunion movie,
Back to the Beach, already a mom three times over,
she kept quiet for five more years
before the public disclosure of her multiple sclerosis.

I’d read Keats’s “Ode on Melancholy” –
glut thy sorrow on a morning rose –
and I knew beauty was fleeting,
but the reality of my teenage heartthrob
falling apart made the evanescence of time
a fact you could touch, smell.

Charles Rammelkamp is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore. Two full-length collections were published in 2020, Catastroika, from Apprentice House, and Ugler Lee from Kelsay Books. A poetry chapbook, Mortal Coil, has just been published by Clare Songbirds Publishing.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 01/03/24

January 3, 2024 James D. Casey IV

Blasting Through

Dangerous
the thought pattern
thinking what
becomes of me
whereupon I am
no more but a
soul
am I a soul
or random heart
beating
a ripple
in meaningless
time
or something profound
where the universe
pivot and create
themselves/itself anew
(in you?)
hard to tell
but good mental health
banks on the latter.

Randall Rogers is a US poet recently moved to Denver. Not for the weed. More opportunities to poeticize. Randall is an island. He says “A pet would be alright but they poop.” So he remains an island. My two parakeets Greenie and Blue flew into the window of my new place and both died within minutes of my arrival. Dang, I should have closed the curtains/blinds!” Randall works with the Beatnik Cowboy.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 11/09/22

November 9, 2022 James D. Casey IV

T e n d r i l s

And disappearing
Into the sea
Go the things
We used to be
Long thin tendrils
Strewn over waves
Of time
Dancing
In the dying sun
Breathlessly

John is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology. He is the author of four books of poetry: March (2019), The Seasons of Us (2019), New Days (2020), and Fragments (2021). His work has appeared widely in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies internationally. John is also a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 07/14/21

July 14, 2021 James D. Casey IV

Nothing But Time

I have nothing but time
and nothing to brag about.
I have nothing but a
healthy desire to feel well.

I am walking through mist
in a fog filled life. I can
barely see a star up
above in this climate.

I get carried away
in these uncertain days.
I read your mind, but a
whole lot is missing. You
are not an easy book.
You speak in an unknown
language I cannot learn.

Luis lives in California and works in Los Angeles. His books and chapbooks have been published by Deadbeat Press, Kendra Steiner Editions, New Polish Beat, Poet’s Democracy, Propaganda Press, Pygmy Forest Press, Rogue Wolf Press, and Ten Pages Press (e-book).

13 New C.M.P. Stickers by J.D.C.IV

April 14, 2021April 16, 2021 James D. Casey IV

Y’all check it out, I just added 13 new stickers that I designed to the Cajun Mutt Press online shop!!!

Don’t forget we have C.M.P. logo mugs, masks, and clothing available as well! Plus More New Stickers Coming Soon! Infinite thanks to everyone that’s made an order.

Please Support The Arts & Small Press!!!

Write On!
J.D.C.IV
Founder/Editor-in-Chief
C.M.P.
🤟💀~🤘🧿

🤟💀~🤘🧿

J.D.C.IV with his Poem Poster in St. Charles, IL, at ArtsFest Poetry Crawl 2019

James D. Casey IV is an artist, award winning poet, gonzo writer, author of seven poetry collections, and the founder/editor-in-chief/publisher of Cajun Mutt Press.

J.D.C.IV has roots in Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, and currently lives in Illinois with his Beautiful Muse and their fat black cat.

His work can be found online and in print at several small press venues and literary magazines internationally.