The June Editor's Pick Poet is Frank Schildiner

Please feel free to email Frank at: pulpwriter1@gmail.com

WASTED POTENTIAL

The knowledge of ages lays upon my sweaty palm,
more knowledge than the Library of Alexandria,
available at a touch or a flick of my finger,
yet I stare at kittens and scream my opinions into the void,
words with friends whose faces I never seek,
influencers who inspire plastic smiles and useless toys,
we could achieve dreams of joy if we thought past our palm,
wasted potential, the sad reality of our time.

BUTCHERING THE BEAST

We butchered a beast in Paris on a lovely July day
the sun shone in a cloudless sky and we gathered
in hopes the spectacle might relieve us of our terror

His name was Robespierre, a little man with a loud voice
a messiah of murder, a titan of terror, a looter of lives
who demanded equality, yet sat on a throne of bones

We suckled on the vein of our beloved France
slurping blood he fed us through spectacles great
Madam Guillotine rusted as she rose and fell

We knitted, cavorted, sang songs and laughed
as Louis and Marie and noble heads fell
their death masks captured is wax and clay

Yet like bloated sows before an endless trough
we sickened on the endless diet of horror and pain
as mighty Robespierre filled graveyards a plenty

So, he fell from his lofty governmental heaven
shattering like Lucifer crashing into darkest Perdition
his sneering lips ripped, ranting voice ruined

And beast did weep, screamed and begged
dignity forgotten on his very last day
carried up the steps towards a gleaming blade

Robespierre died yet his horror lives on
for he showed us the darkness that lay within
our secret hearts filled with malice and blood.    

BYRON AND SHELLEY

Byron and Shelley sat in a room
Their confidence and greatness
Perpetually on showy display
Yet gentle young Mary
Surpassed them one night
Her twisted creature eternal
Frankenstein was his name.

ROSES ARE BLACK

Roses are black
Violets are black
I forgot to pay the bill
Where is my debit card?

Frank Schildiner is a martial arts instructor at Amorosi’s Mixed Martial Arts in New Jersey. He is the writer of the novels The Quest of Frankenstein, The Triumph of Frankenstein, Napoleon’s Vampire Hunters, The Devil Plague of Naples, and The Irma Vep and the Great Brain of Mars.

Frank is a regular contributor to the fictional series Tales of the Shadowmen and has been published in The Joy of Joe, The New Adventures of Thunder Jim Wade, Secret Agent X, The Lone Ranger and Tonto: Frontier Justice, and The Avenger: The Justice Files.

He resides in New Jersey with his wife Gail who is his top supporter and two cats who are indifferent on the subject.