The September Editor's Pick Poet is Tony Daly
Please feel free to email Tony at: aldaly13@gmail.com
WHITE
there they are again
fluttering across my vision
the fairies that warn of pain
and blindness forthcoming
but I still have time
I don’t see the tunnel
of oblivion, yet
I scramble for the pills that
can shield my fractured continence
scattering them under the desk
they run, hiding from my devouring
and there it is
like a blood raging vampire swarm
my world is flooded with white
and all the pain and anger in the
universe stabs into my mind
thrust by a demon with a hot poker
“it will pass,” a voice
from deep within says
“join us,” another whispers
as I slam my
forehead against a wall
shifting the pain
to a bloody relief
silencing the voices
with the hope of
knocking myself out
to pass screaming to the night
to wake without pain
a futile dream?
SQUEEZE
There you are, again
I knew, if I just waited
You’d provide the evidence
And dig your own grave
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
Do you hate me, still?
Passive-aggressive BS
Jails my given emotions
It’s all your fault, now
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
The anger rises
And you are no longer you
Suddenly becoming all
I’ve seen through the tunnel
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
The suit at the marketplace
The infrared silhouette
And all the others
It’s always the same
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
Breathe-the marriage
The children. You threw us
Away while I was bleeding
In the petroleum sand
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
And now it’s simple
I’ve done this before
One squeeze and
It’ll all be over
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
Squeeze-explosion of anger
You collapse into the arms
Of your lover
Take your last breaths together
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
Now my world, my mind
Are shattered, like our window
There is only one way
To end the nightmares
Breathe-remember your training
Just breathe and squeeze
AMONTILLADO JR.
Splintered nail beds stained the brick
And fresh mortar crimson reds
But he couldn’t see it.
Hoarse yells reverberated from the
Shallow confining walls
But he couldn’t hear it.
The warm recycled breath created
sweat in the cold
But he couldn’t feel it.
Outside the entombment sat the
Wrathful reaper, enjoying the music
And the sight of his new wall,
Feeling the ecstasy of passion fulfilled
Tony Daly pays the bills as a federal Writer/Editor in the Washington DC Metro Area, and pays it back as a Volunteer Associate Editor with Military Experience and the Arts (http://militaryexperience.org/). He believes that much of the true horror is contained within one’s own mind, and much of his work is informed and inspired from his creative studies into Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. He has most recently been published in the Rat’s Ass Review and the Ekphrastic Review.