Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Batter Up! by John Patrick Robbins

And take a swing to collapse the skull like a cantaloupe as brains splatter like candy and screams replace laughter and childish glee.

We lust in secret for violence, mask our truths, enraged just by how pathetic our society has truly become.

From the idiots who praise superhero movies for their depth to the jacked-up truck jerk-offs all flying Old Glory, whose colors have faded with the passing of yet another day underneath a sweltering sun.

The brain-dead gather to take selfies at riots, as the homeless just yearn to escape the cycle.

We step over corpses en route to Disneyland to pretend that the white picket fence dream still exists.

As Mommy gets bent over the kitchen table for her Only Fans, and Pops is figuring out what to do with that hooker's decomposing corpse in the trunk of his car.

While Bobby is a quarterback hero of high school, yet prefers the reflection in the mirror of his high heels and fishnets.

And his big sister just wishes to get the fuck out of this nowhere town.

We whitewash reality and roast marshmallows over a dumpster fire's flames.

Pretend hope does exist with equality.
As Officer Mitchel just wants to blow his brains out rather than face another day.

The happy ending is a momentary release; the ugly truth is a permanent scar.
Everyone's ready to fulfill an internal bloodlust.

The prisons overflow, and the psych ward is filled with those who are far more rational than those controlling our destiny upon their soapboxes and in Senate meetings.

Doing essentially nothing, as they always have.

Anarchy rules by proxy, my children.
We are playing with fire upon a moment's notice.

You cannot hit the ball unless you swing the bat.
Care to chase bullets with me, my dear?



John Patrick Robbins is a Southern Gothic writer.
His work has appeared in Horror Sleaze Trash, Piker Press, Schlock Magazine, The Dope Fiend Daily, Fixator Press and here at Disturb The Universe.

He is the author of Midnight Masochism and Are We Dead Yet?
Both of which are published by Black Circle Publishing.

His work is often dark and always unfiltered.

Friday, July 25, 2025

Ain't Too Proud To Beg by Sam Barbee

I slouch at the barroom table. Sip a second hot java
            and re-sort last night. Other survivors, would-be
            shag dancers and troubadours, line the counter.

Noon's cold fingers tap love's hourglass – twin pendulums,
            one hollowing. My arms and head droop
            on the checkered tablecloth. The juke box wails

my most-recent sweetheart's song – the classic Temptation's
            groove snags right before the bridge – should take control
            of this dive where neon promises flutter between

low lights and smudged windows. My hangover resolves
            not to rise and smack the spin to skip the record's
            polished scar, or the damned fleck of dust allowed to drift free.

This selection further-dizzies my stupor: some 60's hubbub
            about a woman who left a lover out of rhythm –
            cheated their common ruin, denied passion honorable demise.

I shy from greasy brunch. Dodge bottom-shelf bourbon's
            stray bullets. No hairy dog lubricant can punctuate
            like salve of silence…                 But the idle juke box

whirs again as one of my mates rattles in a fresh quarter
            to join the other grains of sand pouring toward conclusion.
            Our free-spinning chorus of musical prose serenades

somewhere between silvered solutions and no cellphone
            message. I hydrate with room-temp coffee.
            Pure black as poured.

--

Sam Barbee’s newest collection is Apertures of Voluptuous Force (2022, Redhawk Publishing). He served as President of the Winston-Salem Writers, and also NC Poetry Society; and is one of the originators of the Poetry In Plain Sight — now in its thirteenth year — a poetry initiative featuring NC poets on broadside posters and display them in NC towns statewide. His poems currently appear in Cave Wall, Asheville Poetry Review, and The Anthology of Appalachian Writers (WV).

In the Sun, They All-Pass by Michael Lee Johnson

In the bright sun in the early morning
Gordon Lightfoot sings.
When everything comes back,
to shadow thin, thunderclaps—
and drips of rain.
The coffee pot is perking again.
Even though Gordon has passed.
I experience a mix of life.
A blender of the plurality of singulars
mounting movie moving frames
all returning to memory and mind.
The echoes of insanity, a whisper
schizophrenic, Poe’s haunting verses.
The romances of Leonard Cohen
are hidden in foreign hotel rooms,
lost keys, forgotten scenarios
and forgotten places.
All silence skedaddles
away from death stolen
those leftover tears of a lifetime—
now expired on earth—
seek through
pain abstains.



M
ichael Lee Johnson is a poet of high acclaim, with his work published in 46 countries or republics. He is also a song lyricist with several published poetry books. His talent has been recognized with 7 Pushcart Prize nominations and 7 Best of the Net nominations. He has over 653 published poems. His 330-plus YouTube poetry videos are a testament to his skill and dedication. He is a proud member of the Illinois State Poetry Society: http://www.illinoispoets.org/.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

When Gods Retire by Eric Chiles

Zeus shuffled off to a valley
in the Shenandoahs’
to distill white lightning.

Aphrodite got a job marketing
pharmaceuticals; she had
a cameo in a Cialis ad.

Bacchus joined
a twelve-step program
and started giving
motivational talks
and running retreats.

You can find Mars behind
the gun counter at Cabelas
pushing semi-automatic ARs.

Neptune left the Mediterranean
to run river cruises
with the naiads.

Apollo briefly dabbled
in publishing
but found eternity through
social networking.
With Hermes, he pioneered
Instagram.

--

A former newspaper editor and adjunct professor, Eric Chiles is the author of "What Was and Will Be" (Resource Publications, 2024), and his poetry has appeared in journals such as 3Elements Review, The Avenue, Comstock Review, Paterson Literary Review, and Rattle. Grandfather to a dozen grandsons, he wishes he had a granddaughter.

Friday, July 18, 2025

Strung Out by Anthony Ward

Crouched to attention
Hair torsioned from the
Neck of the violin insinuating strings
Ams melded from bony wood
In perfect harmony with the instrument
Lachrymose semi-breathing notes resembling body
Braying emotional shards through tentative vibrancy
Through crotchety quivering quavers
Intensely irate and consoled
Scything sound from mellifluous maple
Congealing into amber thoughts
Sweat seeping from the timbre
Bloodied by the end of the bow.

--

Anthony loves the way words sound through silence. He is inspired by the nature of the world and the expression of art as humanity decrees to discover itself. He writes to express the overwhelming beauty of the natural world with the inspiring admiration of artistic creativity. He has recently been published in Shot Glass Journal, Jerry Jazz Musician, Dear Booze, and Mad Swirl.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

bent too far by J.J. Campbell

at what age did you
realize wishes never
come true

that no one is willing
to be helpful without
getting something
in return

you ever tell a woman
you love her and her
immediate reaction
was to laugh

there isn’t enough
alcohol in the world
for those nights

burn holes in the carpet
and all the spoons are
bent too far

the baseball cards
are worthless

and no one gives two
shits about all these
books

everything is digitized

even crime

--

J.J. Campbell (1976 - ?) is a 3 time Best Of The Net nominee and was recently nominated for The Pushcart Prize. He's been widely published over the years, most recently at The Beatnik Cowboy, Synchronized Chaos, The Dope Fiend Daily, Yellow Mama and Horror Sleaze Trash. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)

Friday, July 11, 2025

The Weekly Diary of a Starving Man by Manny Grimaldi

section titles based on diary entries by Witold Gombrowicz

Sunday. Me.

God put laugh tracks on my long-awaited return to the silver screen.


Monday. Me.

My stupidity a melting ribeye,
most assuredly not rare.
The world is rigorously honest fools full of kings—
brutes hot, steaks full of me, me, me, me
and more of me


Tuesday. Me.

Good society is a recipe.

Apply heat
at both ends.

Let cool the middle.


Wednesday. Me.

What came before, fire.
What’s left is ashes.

Scars let us know how to forgive and love.


Thursday. Me.

Mind my mind in yours at dinner, lover.

The arm of space
drops basil and pepper,
in smoking broth,
silken shimmers chicken,
it begs your honor crush its happiness.

I cannot escape crying to stop laughing.


Friday. Me.

I still beg—
and every wish
becomes the light.

Lake-dark
fish surface to help,
suspicious, I tread—

they aren’t asked for.


Saturday. Me.

No, I know, is the most important word in several languages.

--

Manny Grimaldi is a Kentucky writer and editor. He is editor at Yearling Poetry Journal, in Lexington, Kentucky. He authored a self-published poetry collection, Riding Shotgun with the Mothman, and a chapbook, Ex Libris Ioannes Cerva (by anonymus scriptus). Manny looks toward a nearing book release with Whiskey City Press. He can be reached at http://mannygrimaldi.mypixieset.com.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

A Troubled Girl by Wayne F. Burke

who drags a suitcase all over town;
she tells people where
to go too
only there ain’t no people
here
only squirrels, birds, and
me
on a bench
in this park
carpeted with golden leaves
from trees with
bare branches
stretching like arms
reaching
toward the sun
hidden behind
puff-balls of
nothing.

--

Wayne F. Burke's poetry and prose has been widely published in print and online (including in DISTURB THE UNIVERSE). His eight published collections of poetry include the highly praised A LARK UP THE NOSE OF TIME, 2017. He lives in Vermont (USA).

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

False Statement by Michael Anthony Ingram

I said that I wouldn’t look back at yesterday,
but I did.
I had to know.
I had to feel what I felt before I risked venturing into what is today. In that brief moment of madness,
I revisited yesterday’s beauty and its foulness;
its simplicity and its complexity;
its blackness and its illumination.
I said that I would not look back at yesterday, but I did. I had to know.

--

Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, host and producer of the globally acclaimed poetry podcast Quintessential Poetry: Online Radio, YouTube, and Zoom. He is a retired university professor who champions the arts, especially poetry, to highlight issues at the intersection of power, privilege, and oppression. A nominee for the Pushcart Prize, he is also celebrated internationally as a spoken word artist. His eagerly anticipated second book of poetry, Metaphorically Screaming, will soon be released. For further details about the podcast, please visit www.qporytz.com.