The Infamous Ron Whitehead, Kentucky Outlaw Poet

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

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 05/27/20

A FINE LINE OF DISTINCTION

In the mood for an orgy,
I followed the railway tracks
crossed a river
dividing a racecourse.
Oldest in England.
A group was gathering
beneath a large beer tent.
Soon we were laying on the tables
performing those tasks
usually left to the imagination.
Recognized a few nose breathers
from my sexual addiction class.
One person in particular,
had arrived by limousine
which then had a hard time
easing back into traffic when
consequentializing for the obscene.

©2020 Colin James All rights reserved.

Colin James has a book of poems, Resisting Probability, from Sagging Meniscus Press. He lives in Massachusetts………

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 05/01/20

Fine Young Cannibals

He put poison
on our fingertips
to protect us
from ourselves
we two little peas
in our sad pod
sailing the seas
of
Motherlessness
vibrating energies
taking on
unending waves
we would have
consumed
ourselves
whole
if
we
could
one
inch
at a time
devoured
ourselves
completely

©2020 Jenny Bell All rights reserved.

Jenny Bell is a poet, seeker, and artist. She began writing poetry as a young motherless girl to make meaning of things and express herself. Formerly a stonemason, she spent 2 decades building unique stone projects across Kentucky and Florida. She is a meditation teacher and guide with her primary focus being compassion. She is deeply rooted in the contemplative arts, facilitating stone balancing and zen calligraphy workshops. She is an avid haiku writer as well. She currently lives on and manages a horse farm with her husband and their menagerie of critters just outside Louisville Kentucky.

C.M.P. May 2020 Featured Writers

May is here! I know I’ve said it before, but it’s unbelievable how fast this year is going. It seemed like only yesterday we were ringing in the New Year, and now we’re almost halfway through 2020! Plus, on top of time flying by like we’re entering a black hole vortex, we have this virus/quarantine to deal with. It’s a good thing in a way because it gives all of us artistic minds a chance to create.

These are strange times we’re living in for sure, but at least we have poetry to help us get through, and I’ve got another kick-ass lineup for y’all this month. Below you’ll find the May Featured Writers, and as usual, you can send submissions to cajunmuttpress@gmail.com with a bio and author photo. I have June/July full, a few spots left to fill for August, and then I’ll start reading for September. Y’all stay safe out there and write/read/create something!

Write On!
J.D.C.IV
🤘💀
#poetry #FeaturedWriter
#CajunMuttPress
#publishing

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writers, May 2020:

Fine Young Cannibals
by Jenny Bell
05/01/20

Because The World Is Full of Dicks
by Mendes Biondo
05/04/20

I, Writer
by Theresa C. Gaynord
05/06/20

the prettiest roses
by J.J. Campbell
05/08/20

Sea Sense
by Fareed Agyakwah
05/11/20

3 Poems
by Dan Provost
05/13/20

The Night My Dad Met Hank
by Will Mayo
05/15/20

AIRPORT
by William Teets
05/18/20

Fuzzy, romantic feelings (in cars)
by Carrie Magness Randa
05/20/20

MEASURING UP
by Brian Rihlmann
05/22/20

New Days
by John Drudge
05/25/20

A FINE LINE OF DISTINCTION
by Colin James
05/27/20

Creature of Love
by John Goodie
05/29/20

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 04/29/20

The One About Pontius Pilate’s wife

Claudia had
a terrible dream

On a day with an
itchy red sky,
gargoyle eyes,

writhing on her
perfumed bed,

She dreams truth
and tells her husband,

stay away
from righteous Jesus

The Church makes
her a saint
for her gloom

In paintings
she hovers
miserably
and whispers
in his ear,

a game of telephone
in the Life of Christ

©2020 Melanie Browne All rights reserved.

Melanie Browne is a poet and fiction writer living in Texas. Her work can be found at Pulp Metal Magazine, Midnight Lane Boutique, and other online journals.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 04/27/20

tough guy poets

it’s kind of an oxymoron
poets are supposed to be sensitive
you see it all the time
men in their turtlenecks and suit jackets
men in hats and designer T’s
standing before a mic
men who were the boys in high school
who were always in their head
what is life
what is love
is there a god
trying to impress the girls
with their sensitivity
maybe meet a soul mate
they can settle down with
and spend the rest of their lives
contemplating the mystery and wonderment
of the universe
but tough guy poets
don’t give a shit about all that
they’d rather go out drinking
than stay at home
they’d rather fuck than make love
they curse god on a regular basis
and all they hear from him is silence
their poetry is their life
the blood they bleed after a bar fight
the tears they refuse to shed
even though they weep inside daily
it is in their sweat
the sweat of addiction
the sweat of denial
the sweat of not knowing what the fuck
this life is all about
but willing to do the hard work
the sometimes unbearable work
to see it through
they’ve stared into the abyss for so long
their eyes are haunted by shadows
their soul is blackened by sulfur
tough guy poets are the cast outs
the cast-offs
the one foot in the grave
the other whistling past the graveyard
as demons call out their name
tough guy poets are so down on their luck
all they have are their words
to spit and hurl
to make someone stop in their tracks
to look
and listen
because tough guy poets
just want to be seen
they just want to be heard
they just want to be recognized as human
once again

©2020 Kurt Newton All rights reserved.

Kurt Newton’s poetry has appeared in Horror Sleaze Trash, In Between Hangovers and Alien Buddha Zine. His latest poetry collection, Nazi Swastika Bikini Wax Illuminati, was published in August of 2019 by Alien Buddha Press.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 04/24/20

A Decade of Music in a Moment

At twenty-two, he had a band
and they traveled around the Midwest
playing the small clubs while sleeping
in the van or on the occasional couch
of a bargoer motivated by their music.
They made barely enough money
to fill the tank but did not care because
it was living the dream.

They sold a few CDs and a lesser number of cassettes
and had a number of magical nights where the music
flowed from instruments out to the crowd
and back again and with the drinks and the jumping
and the clapping and the outright
cheers and the standing ovations
and the shouts for more they thought they might
be on to something, thought they might
make it.

At thirty-two, he’s still doing weekend tours
of the small clubs in the same parts of the Midwest
because making it remained the elusive part
of the dream. And he’s still playing many
of the same songs but with new and often much
younger musicians before they move on to other
bands to follow their own dreams rather than
the remnants of his.

He is undeterred though, not unhappy,
even a little starry-eyed at times when he
steps on a little corner stage on a Sunday
night in Milwaukee and says something
he said in the same bar over a decade ago,
“This first song is the first track on our CD.”

And the one fan among the thirty or so in attendance,
the one fan from all those years ago, the fan who hasn’t ever
missed a show at that bar—she’s married now and here
with her husband—will let out a cheer and he’ll make eye
contact with her before playing the opening chords
with his eyes closed, assured in the knowledge
as the music rings out through bar and city
that he has, if only in moments like these,
made it.

©2020 Dave O’Leary All rights reserved.

Dave O’Leary is a writer and musician living in Seattle. He’s had two novels published (The Music Book, Booktrope, 2014 and Horse Bite, Infinitum, 2011) and has had prose and poetry featured in Slate.com, the Portland Book Review, Vamp Cat Magazine, Turnpike Magazine, Line Rider Press, and Cajun Mutt Press. Both of his novels featured poetry mixed in with the prose, and now he is at work on his first full-length collection of poetry.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 04/22/20

The Suitcase

Back then, we had a theory.
We thought that a suitcase
was easier to get into cars
than a rucksack and thus,
drivers were more likely
to pick up hitchhikers
with a small suitcase.
It worked like a dream
and it carried our dreams.

Yesterday
I came across our old suitcase
buried in a heap of debris in my attic.
It was battered from its long journeys
and even longer vacation.
Its clothing was torn
exposing its cardboard credentials.
I haven’t opened it yet
so it’s unclear
if it’s still full
or if it’s empty.

Once we packed it full
of our dreams,
but now
I wonder
if any remain,
caught in the lining perhaps,
or if they’ve all have been carried away
with our lost memories
or buried in the debris
of the past.

©2020 Lynn White All rights reserved.

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy, and reality. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud ‘War Poetry for Today’ competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Rhysling Award. Her poetry has appeared in many publications including: Apogee, Firewords, Capsule Stories, Light Journal and So It Goes. Find Lynn at: https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com and https://www.facebook.com/Lynn-White-Poetry-1603675983213077/