I’d like to let everyone know my poem “It’s Much Too Late” has been published at Gobblers By Masticadores. Sincere thanks to Juan Re Crivello and Manuela Timofte and their staff for this opportunity to share my poetry with their readers—it’s always an honor.

“It’s Much Too Late”
(c) 2017 by Michael L. Utley

“Autumn rain
Cannot slake
Summer’s thirst

It’s much too late
For yellowed grass
And barren field

Leaves which fall unseen
Litter ground in mounds
Scarlet memories

It’s much too late
For mountain leas
Devoid of hue…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers By Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.

I’d like to announce my poem “Night Thoughts” has been published at Gobblers & Masticadores. Many thanks to Juan Re Crivello and Manuela Timofte and their staff for this opportunity to share my poetry with their readers.

“Night Thoughts”
© 2012 by Michael L. Utley

“I vomit out myself again each night
When lights go out and tired thoughts awake
To find that darkened mere from which to slake
Their thirst for dark dominion. In the bright
And sane pedantic musings of the light
Where every thought, word, deed presumes to take
On tones of gilded gravity, I stake
My soul against the coming evening’s fight.

The day is done; I’m with my thoughts, alone
And sleep cannot—will not—this night prevail.
My mind, a dynamo, begins to race
And images appear as if they’ve grown
In some dark, dank and fetid fen. I quail
As my true self confronts me, face to face…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers & Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.

Hey, everyone. I’d like to announce my poem “The Barn” has been published at Gobblers & Masticadores. Thanks so much to Juan Re Crivello and Manuela Timofte and their staff for this opportunity to share my writing with their readers. I’m truly grateful, Juan and Manuela!

“The Barn”
© 2013 by Michael L. Utley

“On weed-strewn verge of fallow field
The barn still stands, a silent revenant
Of ages past, a mournful sentiment
Amid the dying elms concealed

Its boards the hue of ancient bones
The wind has long since scoured paint away
As season after season rendered gray
Once brilliant lively crimson tones…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers & Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.

Hey, folks. I’d like to let you know my poem “The Farm” has been published at Gobblers & Masticadores. Many thanks to Juan Re Crivello and Manuela Timofte and their staff for sharing my poetry with their readiers. I’m truly grateful for this opportunity. Thank you, Juan and Manuela!

“The Farm’
© 2021 by Michael L. Utley

“Nighthawks scream
With evening’s descent
They know the truth
Black god’s-eyes
See everything
From salmon-hued
Heaven
As wings fold
Bird-bombs dive
Preying on the
Prayerless
Powerless
Oblivious
Strident-throated
Shrieks
A mindless alien-avian
Warning
Turn back
There is no hope here…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers & Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.

I’d like to announce my poem “In My Image” has been published at Gobblers & Masticadores. Sincere thanks to Juan Re Crivello and Manuela Timofte and their staff for this opportunity. I’m truly grateful. Thank you, Juan and Manuela!

“In My Image”
© 2012 by Michael L. Utley

“Father said
I have seen you in my dreams
My alabaster boy
My pristine son
Marked neither with scar nor blemish
The innocence of childhood aglow
Upon your brow like the light of
A thousand suns
Your mind untouched
By fear and the lies of men
Your future the color of
Quicksilver and autumn wheat…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers & Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.

I’m excited to announce my poem “Odysseus” has been selected as a featured poem at Spillwords Press. Many thanks to Dagmara K. and her staff for publishing this piece. It’s an incredible honor to share my work with the readers at Spillwords Press, and I’m truly grateful for this opportunity. Sincere thanks, Dagmara. I appreciate it.

“Odysseus”
© 2013 by Michael L. Utley

“I saw Odysseus sprawled on the sidewalk between
The squalid little deli and the boarded-up
All-night video place whose weather-stained
Posters advertised GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS
Amid obtuse indecipherable graffiti and
A fallen constellation of multi-hued shards of
Broken glass that crunched underfoot like
Bone fragments
The patina of snow about him
Pristine in its absence of footprints from
Passers-by…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. And once you’re there, take some time to check out the work of many other talented writers on Spillwords Press, where you’ll find a treasure trove of good writing.

I’d like to announce my poem “The Trunk” has been published at Gobblers & Masticadores. Many thanks to Juan Re Crivello and Manuela Timofte and their staff for this opportunity to share my poetry with their readers. I’m sincerely grateful. Thank you, Juan and Manuela!

“The Trunk”
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley

“There is a place for things
That don’t belong in
Other places
That sere and weathered
Trunk that hunkers lupine-like
Amid dust-addled attic shadows
Wood split and gouged
With time and neglect
Iron bands and fittings
A crumble of rust
Lockless clasp broken
From endless breeches
And pryings
I should have
Replaced that lock
Eons ago…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers & Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.

I’m pleased to announce my poem “The Footbridge”  has been published at Gobblers & Masticadores. Sincere thanks to Juan Re Crivello and Manuela Timofte and their staff for this opportunity. I’m truly grateful. Thank you, Juan and Manuela!

“The Footbridge”
(c) 2021 by Michael L. Utley

“That derelict footbridge
Has finally failed
Stranding us on
Opposite shores
Of the abyss
Words
Like rotted planks
Litter the gorge
Below
Desires and dreams
Dashed
Upon indifferent rocks
Silence is all
I hear from you…”

You can read the rest of my poem by clicking this link. Also, don’t forget to follow and subscribe to Gobblers & Masticadores, where you’ll find some wonderful writing and plenty of food for thought.