Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 06/19/24

Non-Playable Character

I am the NPC
in someone else’s reality,
a side character
in someone else’s story.
There is no dragon
to slay
and no maiden
to lay
in the castle dungeon,
just a prison.
There are no quests,
no mythical and magical lands,
no courage in my chest
and no powers from my hand.
There is no consequence
for my absence or presence,
as just another glitch
in the matrix.

Exploding Head Syndrome

In my tired mind,
Chris crossed wires
create copper currents,
infusing blown fuses
with stuttering static
synapses shocking
the senses into
hallucinations
of white noise
black outs.

Little Poem

I am a little poem,
made, not born,
as rough scrap paper drafts
folded into paper airplanes
crash landing through blizzards
of crumpled snow balls into
the overflowing recycling bin
until the inevitable avalanche.
But with too many
words to write,
there are only so many
empty pages of white.

Chris Butler is an illiterate poet. He has previously published 500 poems, including his 10 book “Poems of Pain” series, including Artsy Fartsy (Alternating Current Press), BUMMER (Scars Publications), Neurotica (Down in the Dirt) and DOOMER (Ethel Press). He co-wrote a book of poems, Dead Beats, with Dr. Randall K. Rogers. He is also the co-editor of The Beatnik Cowboy literary journal.