Johnny Scarlotti

new girl

i get down on my hands and knees
and start licking her
then sucking on her clit
she moans
and grabs my hair
and says yeah
and i keep sucking
and it feels like her clit is growing
it’s like an inch long now
and i’m sucking
and she’s pulling my hair
and pushing me into her and thrusting
and it’s 2 inches and getting real stiff
now it’s 3 inches
what the fuck is going on
it’s like 4 inches now
and i’m gagging
and she’s saying fuck yeah bitch
fuck yeah
and she’s saying
i’m about to cum
and i’m choking
and she’s saying
almost there don’t stop
and then i can feel it warm
shooting down my throat
and i open my eyes
and i’m crying and spitting and gasping
and she’s saying
yeah bitch
and i’m like what the fuck was that
and she says
what?
and i say
are you a dude?
and she says
yeah

John D. Robinson

In Our 20’s, A Drunken Early Evening

I would guess that
she had her reasons
for her actions;
the heavy glass
ashtray thrown in
the semi-darkness
was a quality throw
and opened up a
deep gash across the
bridge of my nose;
I picked up the
nearest object,
a cauliflower,
and threw it towards
the screaming and
missed the target
miserably and I felt
the warm blood
streaming onto my lips
and down my chin
and I began laughing;
she moved and
switched on a light
and began crying and
apologising as she
looked at my face and
then behind her at the
shattered cauliflower
upon the floor and
then she knelt down
and embraced me,
kissing my bloodied
face, diluting the
red with her tears.

Michael Crane

Things She Said to Him

‘You take the good with the bad.’
‘You’re a good person and a wicked artist.’
‘You’re very sensitive.’
‘I find you intriguing.’
‘You’re a strong person.’
‘I like your penis.’
‘You’re not too crusty for an old guy.’
‘You’re funny.’
‘You’re one sexy mother.’
‘You make my day.’
‘My kids like you.’

All these thoughts
crossed his mind
as she came screaming
towards him with
a butcher knife.

Scott Emerson

Stepdad

The bug
was waiting for Gerald
when he came home
from school

six feet tall, mandibles
chittering as he sat at
the kitchen table

Mommy said, Gerald
This is your new Daddy

to which he replied
What happened to my
Other Daddy?

The bug clicked
his great sticky jaws
again, patting
his knee, Sit down,
son, I’ll explain
everything

Gerald went to bed
confused, scared
by the noises that emerged
from Mommy’s room
moist gasps, the paper-flutter
of wings, wondering why

she called him Daddy
too

Johnny Scarlotti

What a Day

after we got drunk
and after we fucked
some dribbled out of her butt
to the bathroom floor
and she slipped
on the jizz
and hit her head and
got knocked out
and like a good boyfriend
I carried her to the bed
tucked her in
and let her sleep it off

she wakes up
in the middle of the night
and I ask how she’s feeling
she starts screaming
“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?”
and I try to calm her down but
she pulls a can of mace
from her purse
and sprays my face
and the dog is barking
and biting my ankles

she runs out of the house
screaming
“CALL THE POLICE
HELP
THERE’S A RAPER IN MY HOUSE”
I can hear neighbors opening their doors
and a commotion
dragging the dog by my ankle
I try to follow her outside
to explain the situation to everyone
and a neighbor has a shotgun
pointed at my chest

so I go back inside

and then the cops come
kicking down the door
I’m standing with my hands in the air
“GETDOWNGETDOWNGETDOWN”
before I can register what they’re saying
I get tased, three times
and her dog fried to death
but I’m alright
she remembers who I am now

what a day

John Patrick Robbins

Belly Up and Double Down

It was a day at the track like any other.

Early on in the day, the hopeless all seemed so full of life, but as the day faded, you saw it:

The desperation in their eyes as they gambled it all away.

Made stupid bets and lost it all, pinning vain hopes on the last horse to at least break them even.

Some say it was the worst addiction there was, but to me they were all the same.

All it was was a passion for doing something more than dying.

And anyone can be a hamster to a wheel.

I was a regular there, but at best that probably meant I went unnoticed by most.

It wasn’t the kind of place where people stood out.

But every now and then you made conversation.

Mac was a regular like my me.

He at least understood how to bet, although his luck was seldom consistent.

We often had a beer together towards the last race.

Most times I was buying.

“Fuck, my luck’s been shit today, Frank.”

“Why you think I’m buying, asshole. If you ever pick a winner, drinks are on you for a change.”

He laughed as he took a sip of his overpriced beer.

“Hell, I ever hit another good streak, I believe the world may come to a end.”

“By the way, how’s the book coming, Frankie?”

“‘Bout same as your luck, it’s not.”

“Hell, man, don’t sweat it. You’re a great writer. All great writers suffer with that on occasion.”

I looked out at the track. I had to laugh to myself, for it always seemed those so-called losers in life were always the ones with the most hope.

“Yeah, Mac. I believe that’s true with most great writers, but I don’t think anyone will ever confuse me with one of them, my friend.”

“Hell, Frankie, chin up man. You’ve been doing some great stuff lately. Look at your last I read, that was some hilarious shit.”

“Man, you’re brutal when it comes to people. That chick really sleep with her eyes wide open and drool all over the pillow?”

“I’ll have you know I was once engaged to that woman.”

“No shit? You still together?”

I laughed at that one.

“Yeah, dude. That’s why I’m here most days watching you gamble away your last cent while I pick up the tab.”

“And you’re a good friend for it, Frankie. Well, I gotta go place one last bet. Lady luck is on my side, I just know it this time.”

With that, Mac got up and left, and I just sat there finishing my beer.

I wasn’t compelled like Mac to cast my last dime in some slim hopes of winning, only just to repeat it all over again tomorrow.

I bought another beer and killed it quickly. The track was closing for the evening.

Out in the parking lot, I ran into Mac.

Somehow he’d managed to pick a winner and won a decent amount.

Tomorrow would find him losing it all, of course. We were all hamsters to a wheel.

We just chose to believe we were better off than the next sap beside us.

I went home that night and never even looked at the page.

Even the horses were going nowhere fast.

James D. Casey IV

Talking to Myself in Public

I once was lost
But met someone that
Showed me the right path
Even if it was left

A thought provoking madman

That lived under a tree
With an antisocial fragrance
Day drinker blues and
A walking stick
Made of old stale bread

He muttered words
That smelled bad
Behind a candy corn smile
In between sipping
On broken dream gumbo
And thick black death coffee

While pointing the way
With nicotine stained fingers
Twisted and gnarled by time
I made friends with the bird
That lived in his beard
A talkative little fellow
With better breath

I thanked them for their time
Shook both their hands
And I was on my way
With a completely different view
Of our evanescent world

When I finally made it home
I splashed my face with water
And looked into the mirror
Only to realize that man
Was me the whole time

Just talking to myself
In public

John D. Robinson

This Poetry Business

“Okay, so what is it?
that some poems of yours
have appeared in a
literary publication?
what does that mean?
what does it do for you?
so fucking what!
who gives a shit?
blow it up my ass!
the world doesn’t
know or notice shit
like that, it’s far too
busy!
and what’s the point
of it all?”

“I don’t know”
I answered.