Author: James D. Casey IV

James D. Casey IV is the author of seven full-length collections of poetry: Metaphorically Esoteric, Dark Days Inside the Light While Drunk on Wine, Tin Foil Hats & Hadacol Coins, Owls in Hot Rods with Pink Elephants and Dead Bats, Isomorphic, Death & Love/Love & Death, and Unwritten Words That Slide Down The Wall. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Cajun Mutt Press. James is a southern poet with roots in Louisiana & Mississippi, currently residing in Illinois with his beautiful Muse, their retarded dog, and two black cats. Mr. Casey's poetry touches on a wide range of topics including personal experiences, love, hate, religion, politics, dreams, addiction, sex, parallel dimensions, and many more. His work has been published in print and online by several literary magazines and small press venues including Triadæ Magazine, Medusa's Kitchen, The Rye Whiskey Review, Under The Bleachers, Alien Buddha Press, The Abyss, Midnight Magazine, Boozehound Reviews, Dope Fiend Daily, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Ariel Chart, Piker Press, Madness Muse Press, Runcible Spoon, Expat Press, Walking Is Still Honest(W.I.S.H.)Press, Degenerate Literature, Gathering Stories, Constellate Literary Journal, IT-International Times, Visual Verse, The Blue Nib, Pink Litter, In Between Hangovers, Indiana Voice Journal, Poetry Breakfast, Beatnik Cowboy, Dissident Voice, Scarlet Leaf Review, Horror Sleaze Trash, Mad Swirl, Zombie Logic Review, Whispers, Your One Phone Call, I am not a Silent Poet, Tuck Magazine, Terror House Magazine, Outlaw Poetry, Inquietudes Literary Journal, Duane's PoeTree, High On Poems, Synchronized Chaos, Love Booklet, The Wombwell Rainbow, Bottom Shelf Whiskey, Story Mirror, Stanzaic Stylings, Spillwords Press, The Micropoets Society, Leaves of Ink, PPP Ezine, Poetry Life & Times, Realistic Poetry International, Writing Nights Press, Eber & Wein, and several others. James spends most of his time writing, but also enjoys practicing magick, creating artwork, and cooking Cajun cuisine.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 08/03/20

August 3, 2020 James D. Casey IV

Burying the losses

Misty woods of rotting leaf to soil
The haze rises visibly from the stone
A hoot owl, wise and solemn, watches over
The burial of my only friend gone home

The chill sinks deeper into the bone
Blood gone sour and flowing slow
A breath exhaled in the fog is gone
In seconds before the moonlight glow

His body was rolled into the ground
It was all that we could do but pray
The thud of the drop the only sound
At the end of this long and dreary day

John Goodie is a recovering programmer/analyst who found an affinity for words and began writing poems and short stories, returning to college for an English Degree and Tesol certificate to teach English to refugees and immigrants of the USA and the children and people of Spain. Now he seeks his master’s degree in English with a concentration in Multicultural and Transnational Literature.

C.M.P. Aug. 2020 Featured Writers

August 1, 2020 James D. Casey IV

159622558154035990

August is supposed to be the last days of summer, and I don’t know about y’all but this year it feels as though we didn’t even have a summer. The days are so blurred together now it doesn’t even feel like August to me. The subtle changes are the only ways I can really tell. Each sunrise comes a little later. The nights are getting cooler. Sharks begin swimming on the television screen. You know, shit like that. But life goes on and I’m more of a cold-weather kind of guy anyway. So let us raise a toast to winter months to come, and hope that 2020 doesn’t have acid snow or some other crazy form of apocalyptic madness like it’s been throwing at us all year. Hopefully, Lady Luck will deal us a good card…Cheers!

As usual, you’ll find this month’s featured writers below. And we’re always open for submissions, so if you’d like you can send 1-3 poems to cajunmuttpress@gmail.com along with a bio and author photo. I’m currently filling spots for November. Also, keep your eyes peeled for a new book release toward the end of the month. You can also find July’s release, Written in Darkness, in the shop section of our Facebook page.

Write On,
J.D.C.IV
🤟💀

C.M.P. Featured Writers Aug. 2020:

Burying the Losses
by John Goodie
08/03/20

Just hold on a while longer
by Giovanni Mangiante
08/05/20

Knave
by Joan McNerney
08/07/20

Symphony of Empties
by Dave O’Leary
08/10/20

Asleep
by Jarrod Holgate
08/12/20

Lady Luck
by Rebecca Hartz
08/14/20

a very busy, very British day
by Paul Tanner
08/17/20

Snaggle Tooth
by Rob Azevedo
08/19/20

Survival of the Fittest
by Jenny Bell
08/21/20

The Empress
by Sherre Vernon
08/24/20

dreams, they complicate my mind
by John Sweet
08/26/20

The Dive Bars
by Niklas Stephenson
08/28/20

THIS GUY LUKE
by John Grey
08/31/20

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 07/31/20

July 31, 2020 James D. Casey IV

Preacher Man

Maybe I should be a preacher man,
I know I’ve got somebody’s spirit inside me
And I’ve got the accent somewhere in my throat

I don’t need a theology, or a theodicy,
Just the appearance of something burning
Inside the testimony of my heart

Credentials? Nonsense, no need
For them to begin building up my congregation,
I’ll tell them we’re the chosen people

With three-piece finery and dark sunglasses,
Mixed in with sermons about social justice,
I’ll get the loyalty of left and right

Some may say I’ll resemble someone
Else who tried the same shtick some years ago,
The mad man of Guyana, Jim Jones

That’s preposterous, there’s differences,
We must take into account, Jim Jones was evil
And he had no mustache

Ben Nardolilli currently lives in New York City. His work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, Danse Macabre, The 22 Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, Elimae, The Northampton Review, Local Train Magazine, The Minetta Review, and Yes Poetry. He blogs at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com and is trying to publish a novel.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 07/29/20

July 29, 2020 James D. Casey IV

First Time In Detox

My first time in detox,
the fear of stopping
drinking was worse
than the actual
stopping. At least
while you’re still in
detox, when they’re
filling you up with
diazepam, giving
you plenty of good,
healthy food. I have
put on a stone and
a half, at least, each
time I’ve been in
there. The worst
part of it is the first
class fucking dick
heads that are in
there with you.
Although, if anything
it helps you to want
to stay clean to keep
away from that type
of filth. Dirty, scummy
bastards without a
single redeeming
quality. But, yes it’s
pretty easy when
you’re locked up in
there.
The hard part starts
when you get out.

Ian Lewis Copestick is a 47-year-old writer from Stoke on Trent England. Although he started writing poetry in 2001, he only started sending them out for publication 8 months ago. In this time he has had over 100 poems and 5 short stories published. He is featured in print anthologies by Alien Buddha Press and Horror Sleaze Trash. His first book Detritus Of The Drunken Night was published by Cajun Mutt Press on April 2, 2019.

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 07/27/20

July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 James D. Casey IV

Silence

Iridescent silken strands
intricately woven disband
For again and again
the spider will spin
Until her web of
magnificence
becomes
The deadly
trap of
silence