Table Of ContentThe Black Shamrock
Third Issue
Table Of Contents
the bleak winter days /j.j. Campbell ..................................................................... 1
The Golden Boy of the Midwest/Todd Cirillo ..................................................... 2
Poetry Is/God ........................................................................................................ 3
The 12th Round/Jake St John ............................................................................... 4
an ode to norm macdonald/Thom Bakelas ........................................................... 5
effigies/Tanya Rakh ............................................................................................. 6
Sea Glass/Kevin M. Hibshman ............................................................................ 7
hesitation/jck hnry ................................................................................................ 8
Whenever You're Near/Matt Amott ..................................................................... 9
Hesitation/Lauren Scharhag ............................................................................... 10
ARE THERE GHOSTS AT FUNERALS?/R.M. Engelhardt ............................ 11
Comedic Timing/Scott Simmons ....................................................................... 13
Yuppies in a bar/Dennis Moriarty ...................................................................... 14
The Day Before Pay/Jonathan Butcher .............................................................. 16
Rock & Roll with Heart & Soul/Julie Valin ...................................................... 17
Skid To My Shrew/The Artist Formerly Known As JPR .................................. 19
Tsk, Tsk, Tsk / Daniel S Irwin ........................................................................... 20
REVIEWING THE SHRAPNEL & BONE PIERCED SKY/Merritt Waldon .. 22
Scratch Off/Susan Tepper .................................................................................. 24
I Know That's Not You/Ian Lewis Copestick .................................................... 26
Scratching Post/Ashley Karlsson ....................................................................... 28
she charged me double/j.j. Campbell ................................................................. 29
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is Smiling/Todd Cirillo .................................................. 30
Civic Minded/Ed Kepner ................................................................................... 31
Poem To End Silence/Jake St John .................................................................... 32
losing sleep/Tohm Bakelas ................................................................................. 35
distance/Tanya Rakh .......................................................................................... 36
Thoughts On A Fall Evening/ Kevin M. Hibshman ........................................... 37
other people’s clothes/jck hnry .......................................................................... 38
The Crescent Route (New York, Ny - New Orleans, La)/Matt Amott .............. 39
The Sound Barrier/Lauren Scharhag .................................................................. 40
POEM # 13/R.M. Engelhardt ............................................................................ 42
A True Dumbass/Scott Simmons ....................................................................... 44
One Man’s Hell, Another Man’s Heaven/Dennis Moriarty ............................... 45
Back Gardens/Jonathan Butcher ........................................................................ 46
Nightly Worship/Julie Valin .............................................................................. 47
My Academy Award Acceptance Speech/John Patrick Robbins Version 2.0 ... 48
Rumblings In The Great Hall/Daniel S Irwin .................................................... 49
Blessed be the damned, for they shall feed angels/Merritt Waldon ................... 51
Keep In Mind/Frank Murphy ............................................................................. 53
all the bad acting/j.j. Campbell ........................................................................... 54
Wishful Thinking/Todd Cirillo .......................................................................... 55
yellowgreen autumn morning sun/Tohm Bakelas .............................................. 57
Please Rewind/Ed Kepner .................................................................................. 58
18 WAYS TO DIE IN SOUTH TEXAS/Tanya Rakh ....................................... 59
I Want To Make Sad Love/Kevin M. Hibshman ............................................... 61
downtown/jck hnry ............................................................................................. 62
Faded/Matt Amott .............................................................................................. 64
Tangled/Lauren Scharhag .................................................................................. 65
OF POETS & MYSTICS/R.M. Engelhardt ....................................................... 66
Forever Morning/Scott Simmons ....................................................................... 67
Resting Without Comfort/Jonathan Butcher ...................................................... 68
Drunk Satisfaction/Julie Valin ........................................................................... 69
The Clearing/Jake St John .................................................................................. 71
impending doom or death/jj Campbell ............................................................... 86
THIS IS JUST TO SAY ... BACON/R.M. Engelhardt ...................................... 87
the hard truth/Tohm Bakelas .............................................................................. 88
shadows/jck hnry ................................................................................................ 89
It’s Never Changed/Scott Simmons ................................................................... 90
Exposure/Tanya Rakh ........................................................................................ 91
A Forward Near The Ass End/The Mad Editor ................................................. 92
Brothers Of The Bottle/Daniel S. Irwin ............................................................. 94
Black Eye/Merritt Walden ................................................................................. 96
Winter Solstice Night/Matt Amott ..................................................................... 97
OF BLOOD & TRIBULATION/R.M. Engelhardt ............................................ 98
Sacrificially Yours/Murders Row .................................................................... 100
Currant/Tanya Rakh ......................................................................................... 101
It’s Like Christmas/Daniel S. Irwin ................................................................. 102
Rearview Him Though/Satan ........................................................................... 103
the bleak winter days / j.j. Campbell
sirens on the highway
another round of snow
coming soon
the dawn of the bleak
winter days just around
the corner
this dystopian nightmare
getting comfortable
like an ugly sweater
and all the relatives
you fucking hate.
1
The Golden Boy of the Midwest / Todd Cirillo
While some patrons sat
at the bar
there he was
up onstage
reading his poems
about death, decay
the depression
of being raised by
a daddy
who didn’t love him
enough.
Most of the audience up front
were shouting and yelling
in support,
crying and throwing up their hands in the air
wanting more death,
begging for more decay,
popping their own antidepressants
and gathering material
for their new poems
about a daddy
who didn’t love them
enough.
The rest of us
ordered another round
and hoped for death too--
but not
for the same reasons.
2
Poetry Is / God
Words on a page dumbass.
Now leave me the fuck alone and stop asking me for shit!
3
The 12th Round / Jake St John
The rejection letters
and bills connect
with a flurry
of stiff right hands
the whiskey jabs my senses
and the days news
delivers an uppercut
I stagger back
to my corner
grab my pen and paper
and wait for the bell
to ring again.
4
an ode to norm macdonald / Thom Bakelas
nobody ever explains
what to do
when the lights
remain on
after the stage
is left
empty
there’s only
so many
places
to turn
when the
laughter
dies
5
