Month: October 2016

Happy Halloween: 6 Spooky Poems to Set the Mood

~ The.Richard.Braxton ~ Leave a comment

A Desiccated Heart

 

A desiccated heart

The tool of the patriarchy

Bringing down symbols in the trees

Text messages in the reliquary

 

Bringing down the gates

Cracking the iron bands

The heart a ghostly rose

Trembling in the temple

Of the black demon

 

Amid the carnage

Sated on the hill

Carrion beasts in full repose

A sputter of movement

Arose flapping wings

 

You spent your whole life absent

Alone in your chair facing the void

I chiseled our initials

On the hangman’s tree

 

Dead Woods

 

A well centered in a dead wood

Where ravens come to peck the eyes

Of the children floating in the tepid waters

 

The Wraith of Road 348

 

3 miles down

Under the lightning split elm

Tattered rags

Flapping the breeze

The wraith of Road 348

 

The Chugging Machine

 

The chugging machine

Sulfur and smoke

The building rose

Phantom scented seraphim

Bringing Truth to modernity

 

A Raven’s Cry

 

A raven’s cry

The clay bricks

Baked in the sun

Reclaimed by nature

Destroyed but replaced

Mineralized as fossil

 

Bubbling Acid 

 

Dissolved tissue

A white steam frothing

A rose in the bowl

Of bubbling acid

Tearing away your breath

 

 

 

October 28 Poem

~ The.Richard.Braxton ~ Leave a comment

American idiot.

Original but totally

Himself a Trump.

He found tricks.

 

I tossed the bait.

The fish jerked in his hands.

One touch.

Some call it cheating.

 

 

I try the anger.

Big league,

But it old, guys.

No stamina.

 

They were so poor

They removed the guts

They couldn’t afford.

 

The knife cavity off his heart

Thanks fingers.

Guns a hammer disgusting.

Born with a hammer,

But it has a soul.

 

It’s a Dear John poem

In bad need of revision.

Two Quick Bits of News: Publication and NaNoWriMo

~ The.Richard.Braxton ~ Leave a comment

For the first bit of news, I am excited to tell you that some of my writing is going to be published in an online literary journal. Two of my poems have been excepted for publication in December’s pop-culture issue of The Yellow Chair Review. This is the first time I have had any of my work published and I am excited to add a new line on my curriculum vitae.

 

For the second bit of news, I am going to be taking a break from daily poetry blogs for the month of November because I am going to try my hand at the 2016 National Novel Writing Month. While I am used to writing every day, I do not usually reach quite the volume of words required to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. And even without trying to post one poem per day, I am not sure that I will be able to write 1,667 words per day for 30 days strait. I will still try to post things during November if I have time after reaching my daily word goals, but my novel will take precedence. And I am somewhat nervous about embarking on such a long piece of writing, so I will definitely take any words of encouragement that you would like to give me as I might need them.

October Poem 24: Hit Me

~ The.Richard.Braxton ~ Leave a comment

I am waiting here

With my guard down

Trying to anticipate the next move.

Trying to see the next attack.

The next punch.

 

When I had moved in, I swung.

I swung wild,

And I was rebuffed

With a punch to the face.

 

My nose trickled blood,

And you stepped back.

I stumbled a step forward,

And you stepped back.

 

You say you won’t swing

If I can’t defend myself.

 

 

Is there a word?

Is there a name?

Is there an epithet

That I can whisper

That I can say

That I can scream in your face

That will make you hate me?

Make you hurt me?

Make you hit me?

Because I need to feel.

 

I drank myself numb

So I can feel.