Bio: Chuck is a writer and winner of the Mad Cave Studios 2020 Talent Hunt. In 2021 he participated in Grimm Tales from the Cave anthology from Mad Cave Studios. Chuck released two works of fiction and his fourth poetry collection, People Watching, was released by Alien Buddha Press.
Bets Against Myself Is it time to rise, or push off the day and gamble with my time? Is that piss I’m standing in, or someone’s sick? Is it easier to find a new job when you already have one, or when your stomach rumbles? Is it worse to jaywalk in front of a firetruck, or an ambulance? Is it eleven-eleven, or happy hour, the magic number? Is the chunks missing from my paycheck each week worth that healthcare coverage? Is the bum under the sheet, lying on the sidewalk, sleeping or deceased? Is it the paycheck that drives an artist or is it deeper than pockets? Is it worth staying awake, rejecting the need to sleep to write this poem? Battered Battered, bruised by my own ego, staying stuck between my white walls empty as the future before me, empty like my checking account, fed up lapping this same old road, the drive just driving me crazy and not to the ancient end goal. Last Order Lens An illumination from my monitor shed light on the static truth behind the lies of reality T.V. There was no entertainment or sense of comradery with the animals caged in cable. This was strictly medicine for those sick of themselves needing justification to their character. Witnessing womanizing and destruction shaking their heads and whispering under their breath, ‘Jesus Christ.’ To have a vice in the late hour when others have passed out and you’re afraid to sit alone. Vying for the pauses those people receive between their problems so they too can catch a break.
Fevers of the Mind 