shadows – Cajun Mutt Press

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 05/24/24

May 24, 2024 James D. Casey IV

Cat’s Tongue, House No. One Hundred And Ten

The lane makes a bottleneck.
We have a name for the narrow isthmus;
we forgot that; perhaps the lane’s purpose
is to pour the world into the house at the end,
No. One hundred and ten.
I desire to apprehend if you still live there,
keep the books you borrowed from me
decades ago on an evening remembered
for hidden feelings, fog muffled streetlights
casting unstable shadows of us on my celadon wall.
My mother coughed and coughed as you depart.
I recall you bent, hands fisted, books in your tote.
You didn’t acknowledge that you would not return,
no one could. We stopped and watch a starling caught
in the orange cat’s maw. The cat spoke
with its mouth full. I didn’t know the tongue.

The author of Postmarked Quarantine has eight books to his credit. He is a journalist, father, and the editor of ‘Words Surfacing’. His works have been translated into twelve languages, published across the globe.
Twitter- https://twitter.com/Kushalpoe

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 09/22/23

September 22, 2023 James D. Casey IV

The Chosen

How fragile everything is
A spirit invaded her body
A weaver of confusion and chaos
Pursuing the impossible

We had died in an ancient ritual
In a different time
Bound by the cruelty of the act
We relive the pain to survive

Your blood drawn by their claws
Is for the shadows
Banishing the unclean
She steps into the fire

Sacrificing herself to save you
She burns as a symbol of hope
Opening a portal from the past
You walk through

The spirit of chaos and confusion
Indulging in your presence once more

Nobody knows….. Why
Mortal wounds bleed
We do not speak of it
We almost don’t remember it

In her sleep she knows death is before dawn
She shreds her flesh so you can be immortal

We do not speak of it
Nobody knows…. Why
Mortal wounds bleed

Except….

The Chosen Few

Sinead Mcguigan, a poet and psychology graduate from University College Dublin Ireland writes poetry that explores the human condition and the deepest emotions connected to experience. Sinead wrote her first solo collection A Gift and a Curse while recovering from cancer; her new book Unbound is also available on Amazon. Sinead’s main interests are travel concerts and art. She often collaborates with artists and has appeared alongside their work in many publications. The latest poem picked by poet laureate James Morehead to be featured on his podcast and magazine Viewless Wings. You can read more of her poetry on Instagram/Facebook @sineadmcgpoetry

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 09/20/23

September 21, 2023 James D. Casey IV

Foreboding

I had been waiting for ages
under a stuttering streetlight,
when a figure emerged
from the shadows and said,
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m not sure but I feel I have to.”
“Are you expecting someone, then?”
“Well, yes. Or maybe some thing.
The longer I wait, the more anxious
it makes me. It’s extremely unnerving.
Does everybody react like this?”
“Some do, but as far as I know
most don’t bother to think about it.”
“I keep looking over my shoulder,
which makes me even more uneasy.
I have such a sense of foreboding…”
“Relax. It seems like your wait is over.
Let’s walk to the end of the road.”
“So, you were the one I was waiting for.”
“Now that it’s dawned on you,
it’s too late. Your fate is sealed.”

Tony Dawson has lived in Seville since 1989. His writing has appeared in print in Critical Survey, Shoestring Press, Poems-for-All, Chiron Review, Pure Slush, and Otherwise Engaged Literary Journal as well as online at Loch Raven Review, London Grip, The Five-Two, The Syndic Literary Journal, Horror Sleaze and Trash, Cajun Mutt Press, Poetry and Covid, Beatnik Cowboy, Retreats from Oblivion, and Home Planet News. He has published a collection, Afterthoughts, reviewed here:
https://londongrip.co.uk/2023/06/london-grip-poetry-review-tony-dawson/

Cajun Mutt Press Featured Writer 12/06/21

December 6, 2021 James D. Casey IV

Otherworldly Romance

By candlelight, I visit the mausoleum that holds nothing but death.

Talk with it, I may. Might I even enjoy it, too.

Only I’m not alone, for I see the shadows of curiosity as they watch.

They hover and listen to my secrets and dreams.

Entranced by the girl with such beautiful darkness in her eyes.

Ericca Chavez is an emerging writer and artist based in Northern Utah. She loves anything abnormal, supernatural, and just straight-up magical. She writes whatever sparks her spooky heart, even her beloved sunflower garden. Her poetry and other written works can be found on her Instagram: @ ericca.the writer.