The Infamous Ron Whitehead, Kentucky Outlaw Poet

James D. Casey IV

Cajun Mutt Press is extremely proud to announce that the incredibly talented poet, and friend of the late great Hunter S. Thompson, Ron Whitehead has been added to the line-up for a featured spot on our Facebook Page! This is a big event for us, so be sure to catch his poems Tapping My Own Phone this Friday the 28th, and Shithouse Manifesto on October 31st.

Ron Whitehead’s Brief Bio: Poet, writer, editor, publisher, scholar, professor, activist Ron Whitehead grew up on a farm in Kentucky. He attended The University of Louisville and Oxford University. As poet and writer he is the recipient of numerous state, national, and international awards and prizes including The All Kentucky Poetry Prize, The Yeats Club of Oxford’s Prize for Poetry, and many others. In 2006 Dr. John Rocco (NYC) nominated Ron for The Nobel Prize in Literature. He was inducted into his high school’s (Ohio County High) Hall of Fame, representing his 1968 graduating class.

“I have long admired Ron Whitehead. He is crazy as nine loons, and his poetry is a dazzling mix of folk wisdom and pure mathematics.” – Hunter S. Thompson

ron by yunier ramirez 1.jpg

Cajun Mutt Press 2019 Pushcart Nominations

James D. Casey IV

I’m proud to announce the 𝐂𝐚𝐣𝐮𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐭𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 nominees for the 2019 Pushcart Prize! This is our first time submitting since C.M.P. is only in its second year of existence, and I decided to only send three instead of the maximum six nominations, but next year I’ll send in a full submission.

The nominees are as follows:

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙝𝙖 by Kevin Martin
(published on 02/13/19)

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩 by Ian Lewis Copestick
(published on 05/17/19)

𝙈𝙖𝙙 𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 by Rani Whitehead
(published on 07/01/19)

I’ve been thinking of whom I would nominate for some time now, and decided these were our top three submissions for 2019. Show these poets some love, and don’t hesitate to send in your subs to cajunmuttpress@gmail.com for a chance to be one of the nominees in 2020! I already have the Jan. Featured Writers lined up, and I’m currently reading for Feb.

P.S. any press that claims to have nominated someone without sending in a physical copy of the work is full of bull, because they DO NOT accept submissions via email. Only by snail mail from Oct. 1st – Dec. 1st (postmarked).

Write On!
J.D.C.IV
Founder
Editor-in-Chief
𝐂𝐚𝐣𝐮𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐭𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬
🤘💀

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 11/20/19

James D. Casey IV

157421101258991490

Color Spectrum

My purple is violets, beach sunsets, and grape soda
Your purple is the swollen bruise of a trauma that refuses to heal
My red is bloody miscarriage remains floating in the toilet
Your red is rosy cheeks on a summer day, candy apples, a glossy lip
My blue is dark–the bottom of the sea, no sight
Your blue is light–the skies in Carolina
My green is my therapy that quickly burns brown
Your green is a snake in the grass, the mold on old bread
My yellow is bile with a side of lemon juice
Your yellow is baby chicks in a field of daffodils
My orange is Doritos, a clockwork, circus peanuts, and Nemo
Your orange is sideswiped traffic cones, Cheetos fingers, and Trump
My pink is breast cancer awareness, flowers, Steven Tyler’s favorite color
Your pink is a hairless rat, Pepto Bismol puke, a stepped on bubble gum wad
My brown is explosive taco meat diarrhea, a rabid beaver, a fallen tree
Your brown is a beautiful brunette eating chocolate cake with a teddy bear
My black is bitter espresso, endless and deep, a widow
Your black is Sabbath, a good luck cat, voluminous mascara
My white is a wedding gown at a thrift store, snow blanketing a forest, cool whip
Your white is the milky eyes of a corpse, rape semen remnants
What is mine is not your color to wear or share
What is ours is a rainbow of color everywhere

©Kelly Glover all rights reserved

unnamed

Kelly Glover is a single mother and supreme leader of three kids, two cats, and one mouth with a little too much to say. Her first two poetry books, “The Light of My Dark” and “Serenity Savage” are now available on Amazon, and Kelly’s work can be found in various online journals and international anthologies. You can follow her writing journey @serenitysavagewrites on Instagram.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 11/18/19

James D. Casey IV

157421101258991490

Shapeshifter

Perhaps you’ll be like a Jupiter of the ocean
A great whale singing in the deep
Or like a seal, soft, sleek and whiskey
And if you are a Selkie
Then you will have a little belly
And if you are Phoenix
Then even if they grind you to powder
You will be like potassium
Ready to spring back into flame
You will always change
Never quite the same
Keep your foxy ways shapeshifter
This is what your life force is
You weren’t quite meant for the everyday world
And you can laugh at anyone who mutters names for you
Because you have no name and all names
And that’s what keeps you sane.

©Laura Moverin all rights reserved

LM

Laura is a Brisbane based artist and poet. She is part of the MSM writers group. Laura came to Australia from Africa as a child. She currently works with children. Her loves include animals, art, children and the environment.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 11/15/19

James D. Casey IV

157382230089154648 (1)

P o e t s

Steinman from Gross Point, Michigan
told everyone who asked that
he was from Detroit;
Mahoney from a housing project
South Boston
made sure everyone he met
knew it;
me a farm boy from the corner
of NW Massachusetts
(and embarrassed by the fact)
we smoked a joint as
we waited for the #10 bus
the streetlights of Boston
glaring,
cans of Budweiser beer in our pockets–
Mahoney was deaf in one ear
and talked loud enough for everyone on the
bus to hear,
but did not care;
he was a loudmouth worth listening to
said things worth hearing
“write about what you know about”
“a bad childhood is relevant”
whenever I asked him to read poems
I wrote
he made two piles–
good, less good
one day he said “big improvement”
and I felt as if I’d won a prestigious award…
Steinman wrote without use of
punctuation,
between words the
white spaces
where
he lived
in pauses,
mysteries
large and vacant,
like the lawns of
Grosse Pointe.

©Wayne F. Burke all rights reserved

wFb

Wayne F. Burke’s poetry has appeared in a wide variety of publications online and in print (including Cajun Mutt Press). He has published six full-length poetry collections, most recently DIFLUCAN (BareBack press, 2019). He lives in the Great Mountain State, aka, Vermont (USA).

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 11/13/19

James D. Casey IV

157368415684278978

TAKE ME DOWN SAINT PETER

I called but no one was home.
She’s like a ’74 Chevy on concrete blocks.
A chained hound who howls in the yard.
A torn orange flag ripped by rain.

Shit, that was from the day at the Syracuse Fair,
where cotton candy tastes like Saturday afternoon.
Nothin’ to show but a Coney dog and busted lip
for talkin’ too loud at the Howard Street homeboys.
Beneath the statue of Save Me Now Saint Peter,
behind the burned-out ice cream stand.
Over near the shoreline, just south of Salt Lake.
Wildin’ out and shoutin’,
Salt for my Cuervo
Salt for my nuts
Salt taste between her legs

Romeo and Juliet?
Naw, Thorogood and the Destroyers.

Damn, my hoodie don’t cover my face.
Damn, life been comin’ hard at me.

I’m rockin’ the Amtrak headed south.
Over rails made from cobblestone and broken bone.
Straight to New York City.
Straight into sin.
I pray for her and
Saint Peter to come and
take me down.

But my dreams are cotton candy.
I have salt in my veins.

©William Teets all rights reserved

MrT

William Teets is an author and poet born in Peekskill, New York, who has recently relocated to Waterford, Michigan. He immensely misses New York pizza, the Hudson River, and his beloved Mets. He will write. He will survive. Mr. Teets’ works have been published in the literary journals, Chronogram, The Deadly Writers Patrol, and Art and Life, as well as in numerous anthologies.