Hanging the Hook (words – 200, lines – 48)
We should learn to gauge the muse
This is a tool I use:
Seated upon my throne
I glance down between my legs
The bathroom linoleum
its chaotic random patterns
lure me into a space
just outside intentional focus
So invited I choose to accept
a floor mural faces
whom never kiss and tell
They do defy reason
with an inclination to embrace madness
This hook I never refuse
as I rush to my desk
wonder what I was in there for
It took me half a century to discover
the brain bowl of most others
is not full of bloody singers
a symphony of the damned
a mute choir thrashing
Come awake and sing us sing us
You are insignificant
your attempt to sleep a vile insult
She had smiling eyes
just enough flesh there
where a man might die
for a kiss to dare
Hollow chin raised throat
Ah then swallow me
death’s face life a cloak
just refuse to be
She likes the black car
whose driver slips
between the wires
lights her cigarette
makes a noose of her sex
ties her to the bumper
with promises
drags her through a life of lies
Bio:
Tom {WordWulf} SternerHowe, a native son of Colorado, lives in Lafayette, Colorado with wife Karen, her two sons and his youngest son, Zedidiah. Family and riding his Harley Davidson fill up the hours left over from creative enterprises. He has been extensively published in independent literary magazines including Howling Dog Press/Omega, Skyline Literary Review and Flashquake. He is winner of the Marija Cerjak Award for Avant-Garde/Experimental Writing 2001, 2002 & 2003. His first novel, ‘Madman Chronicles: The Warrior’, is available at his website: http://pages.prodigy.net/sterner-howe. Music from the novel may be accessed at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=original_music&viewauthor=3554 or www.lulu.com/TomSternerHowe
Contact Information:
Tom (WordWulf) SternerHowe
1305 Centaur Circle
Lafayette, Colorado 80026
720-890-7217
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