Tag: violence

“Idyllic” published at Hotel by Masticadores

On By Mike U.In Poetry28 Comments

Hello, everyone. My poem “Idyllic” is now available for your perusal at Hotel by Masticadores. I’m grateful to editor Michelle Navajas for publishing this piece, which is an unapologetic, unvarnished rendition of what rural life is really like in parts of this lost and broken country. Thank you, Michelle, for sharing this dark poem with with your readers.

“Idyllic”
© 2025 by Michael L. Utley

“Leroy blew his
fingers off with
blasting caps he stole
from some old granary
and he’d chew on the
blackened stumps
while waiting
for the school bus
like some kind of
hard dude
like he didn’t feel
a thing
I hated him
but I understood
numbness
and I knew he was
dead inside
knowing his
little sisters
were never
coming back
from that long-ago
pile of twisted metal
on the highway
he was sixteen
and already
an old man…“

You can read the rest of my poem here:

“Idyllic”© 2025 by Michael L. Utley

Also, please consider following and subscribing to Hotel by Masticadores, where you’ll discover a world of wonderfully imaginative and profound writing.

Update — After Rain Skies: The Global Anthology Continues to Soar After Release

On By Mike U.In Previews / Reviews20 Comments

An exciting update—After Rain Skies: The Global Anthology, curated by Michelle Ayon Navajas, continues its remarkable run of success, reaching #1 best-seller status in multiple categories for both its Kindle and paperback editions.

From the book:

“After Rain Skies: The Global Anthology is the third installment in the After Rain Skies series, bringing together writers, poets, and storytellers from around the world to speak out against all forms of abuse and violence. Each poem and prose piece is either a personal story or one that inspired the writer—a voice raised in solidarity with those who have endured hardship. These are raw, real stories of resilience, courage, and the search for light after darkness, told through powerful prose and poetry.” – Michelle Ayon Navajas, Curator

You can read the latest press release here:

“After Rain Skies: The Global Anthology” – #1 Bestseller

After Rain Skies: The Global Anthology is available in Kindle and paperback editions at Amazon.

“Idyllic”

On By Mike U.In Poetry50 Comments

“Idyllic”
© 2025 by Michael L. Utley

Leroy blew his
fingers off with
blasting caps he stole
from some old granary
and he’d chew on the
blackened stumps
while waiting
for the school bus
like some kind of
hard dude
like he didn’t feel
a thing
I hated him
but I understood
numbness
and I knew he was
dead inside
knowing his
little sisters
were never
coming back
from that long-ago
pile of twisted metal
on the highway
he was sixteen
and already
an old man

Ronnie was a
psycho
and a pusher
and drove a
piece of shit
Chevy truck
with a .30-06
in a window rack
and his eyes
danced with
hellfire
when he wasn’t
shooting up crank
he was shooting up
mailboxes
and stealing anything
that wasn’t nailed down
and one surreal
summer evening
he almost killed me
and I saw the face of
true evil
up close and personal
my old man
would have been proud
Ronnie was already DOA
and he didn’t even
know it
a wraith
barreling down
a midnight country road
with Skynyrd blasting
and his mind
completely blown

Old Bud had a penchant
for booze
and young girls
and enough sway with
the local LEOs
to look the other way
when his granddaughters
came to visit
his self-proclaimed
redneck empire
collapsed one day when
his black heart came a cropper
and his corpulent ass
gave up its ghost
and its secrets
no shame for the shameless
his little kingdom in ruins
but all those skeletons
remain

my old man was
an anomaly
among this
cretin coterie
this hick menagerie
his arrogant bullying
earned him the moniker
“little hitler”
among the Leroys
and Ronnies
and Old Buds
of this nowhere place
this idyllic pastoral
version of hell
his NRA card-waving
wife-beating
chest-thumping
sturm und drang
racist dog and pony show
approach to country life
perhaps a little too much
for their liking
he was a laughingstock
and too proud to know it
hubris is a helluva drug

and one by one
between shoot-outs
and break-ins
and meth labs
and murders
and suicides
and all the
hidden horrors
birthed by the
brackish hearts of men
these restless ghosts
have faded into
oblivion
only barren fields remain
derelict houses
rife with caustic memories
and the soundless hush
of the uneasy dead
listen closely
and steel yourself
against what this
silent place may
tell you

things are never
ever
as they seem

“Platitudes” (reprise)

On By Mike U.In Poetry33 Comments

(Author’s note: I first posted this piece in March 2024 because my gut told me American democracy would fall in the 2024 elections…and it has. Hatred, fear and lies have ushered in a new, dark world in America as fascists now have power. I am beyond angry and deeply hurt that my fellow Americans have chosen fascism over truth, love and compassion. For now, all I have are these words…and my promise that I will never stop fighting for democracy…)

“Platitudes”
(c) 2024 by Michael L. Utley

the yoke of burdensome veracity
does not comport with those whose vapid souls
would congregate toward lies like moths to flame
and frenzy-feed on poison from the troughs
of those who wish to lead all men astray

thus in the end your heaven’s impotence
could not redeem this unabating hell
and all your pithless ersatz platitudes
lay shattered in inconsequential heaps
the dross of feckless minds and futile means

and though you crow
This truth I know!
as you insist
you ken the gist
of edicts straight
from heaven’s gate
your craven heart
betrays you

this truth I know—that there are those who scheme
to dominate the spineless weak of mind
whose brackish hearts and savage mien await
the opportunity to unleash hate
and spread destruction in their savior’s name

and wear upon their heads their savior’s creed
its name emblazoned red upon their breasts
and armed with flag and gun and profaned cross
prepare to soon fulfill the prophecies
of bloodlust and democracy’s demise

and you proclaim
your savior’s name
on bended knee
and worship he
whose rancid heart
tears souls apart
and vow to kill
to please him

the dove of peace and purity is dead
its carcass desecrated by the mob
its once-white plumage dripping crimson now
as boots stamp restlessly and voices hush
your vulgar gilded calf about to speak

and all the lies of men pour forth as smoke
and all eyes blinded, all hearts burned to ash
and all ears hear the trumpet of the spawn
and all minds bound as one, their task at hand
it’s time to make this country great again

and you shall tread
among the dead
with weapons raised
your savior praised
a new world birthed
now hell on earth
and from above
heaven weeps

the monster you’ve created has no name
its voice the sound of screams and champing teeth
its appetite for wrath insatiable
and as it turns its gaze on you it grins
and now perhaps at last you know the truth

thus in the end your heaven’s impotence
cannot redeem this unrelenting hell
and puerile platitudes cannot assuage
the damnation you’ve brought upon yourself
go forth in horror, your new world awaits

“Platitudes”

On By Mike U.In Poetry39 Comments

“Platitudes”
(c) 2024 by Michael L. Utley

the yoke of burdensome veracity
does not comport with those whose vapid souls
would congregate toward lies like moths to flame
and frenzy-feed on poison from the troughs
of those who wish to lead all men astray

thus in the end your heaven’s impotence
could not redeem this unabating hell
and all your pithless ersatz platitudes
lay shattered in inconsequential heaps
the dross of feckless minds and futile means

and though you crow
This truth I know!
as you insist
you ken the gist
of edicts straight
from heaven’s gate
your craven heart
betrays you

this truth I know—that there are those who scheme
to dominate the spineless weak of mind
whose brackish hearts and savage mien await
the opportunity to unleash hate
and spread destruction in their savior’s name

and wear upon their heads their savior’s creed
its name emblazoned red upon their breasts
and armed with flag and gun and profaned cross
prepare to soon fulfill the prophecies
of bloodlust and democracy’s demise

and you proclaim
your savior’s name
on bended knee
and worship he
whose rancid heart
tears souls apart
and vow to kill
to please him

the dove of peace and purity is dead
its carcass desecrated by the mob
its once-white plumage dripping crimson now
as boots stamp restlessly and voices hush
your vulgar gilded calf about to speak

and all the lies of men pour forth as smoke
and all eyes blinded, all hearts burned to ash
and all ears hear the trumpet of the spawn
and all minds bound as one, their task at hand
it’s time to make this country great again

and you shall tread
among the dead
with weapons raised
your savior praised
a new world birthed
now hell on earth
and from above
heaven weeps

the monster you’ve created has no name
its voice the sound of screams and champing teeth
its appetite for wrath insatiable
and as it turns its gaze on you it grins
and now perhaps at last you know the truth

thus in the end your heaven’s impotence
cannot redeem this unrelenting hell
and puerile platitudes cannot assuage
the damnation you’ve brought upon yourself
go forth in horror, your new world awaits

“A Few Haiku & Senryu (58)”

On By Mike U.In Poetry49 Comments

(c) 2023 by Michael L. Utley

(#343)

in these dead woods
only the storm crow
knows my name

…..

(#344)

an entire universe
in the bowl of my old hands
and still I’m alone

…..

(#345)

red-wrought destruction
right-wing nihilism wears
a death’s head grin

…..

(#346)

there’s no need for books
when guns speak louder than words
red-hat terrorism

…..

(#347)

blood on our hands
bullets don’t discriminate
another child gone

…..

(#348)

love and lenity
the earth pleads for sanity
as the bullets fly