Photography © Jennifer Matthews

 

custer

i don’t have a firm idea
of what i am doing anymore,
i feel like a lost child.
directionless,
don’t remember my past,
don’t see a future.
beer and music and writing
have gotten me this far
but all has fallen away
lately
and i am quivering naked
in the wind.
health and faith
and dreams fade,
and i know
that it is just
more animal bullshit,
another mammal in pain,
and i should laugh at it
only i can’t.

the spirit
can die before the body,
the mind can fail
before the end.
the system breaks
in stages.
and some writhe
in desperation
and cling to
woman,
job,
diety
or whatever else
is available.
and some pass
into stone
without even knowing it.
 
 

Scott Taylor hails from Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a writer and a musician, and an avid world traveler. His short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous print and online publications, including Ghost City Review, Snakeskin, Oddball, Angel Rust and Swifts and Slows. His debut novel Chasing Your Tail has recently been released with Silver Bow Publishing, and his novellas Freak and Ernie and the Golden Egg are slated for inclusion in an upcoming anthology with Running Wild Press. He graduated from Cornell University and was also a computer programmer in a past life.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.