My name is Gordon Lewis, I am an artist/poet/photographer and musician based out of Colorado
Over the Edge
I’m wandering in the desert Looking for a home Not lost forever Wherever I roam
There’s a million signs that lead to nowhere And that’s just where I’ll start Help me get to where I’m goin’ And in the end we must part
There’s an endless ravine of courage And I need to take a sip Get me on the journey Take me on the trip
We’re nearing the end of the road Gotta make a decision quick Pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps Hopefully that’ll do the trick
Art Unsung
Imagine all of the poems
that went up in smoke
think of the art erased
and the instruments silenced
Grasp the loss of creation
the thought of unspoken prose
the deafening of the Opera
and the end of the song
Seeing the dance of the muse
turn into a lethargic walk
and the painter drop
the brush and palette
When the meaning of art
was reduced to dung
and the brilliance of the mind
was soaked in bleach
Launchcode
Nuclear launchcode orgasm
On top of the holy site
we spread our wings
to descend like a Phoenix
the barren desert
where vultures eat decaying flesh
mesmerized by the haze
We divulge the massacre
Soliloquy
The amber trees
With hues of brilliance
Glimmering in the sunshine
The rolling hills
With grass that waivers
In the brisk wind
The sky is blissful blue
Where the birds dance
As they float above
Splatter Paint Fiasco
A million shards of embers
Toking the souls of the undead
We relapsed into old ways
Spinning on dynasties made of gold
Embryonic tissue submerged
Splatter paint fiasco
The dialect of a colony of ants
Swarming the barricades
Looking for an entrance
Please send in word doc format and mostly traditional styles for easier translation to the page if possible. If not pdf will work. Google docs don’t always work so well.
Donate to our paypal also at feversofthemind@gmail.com (anything helps to keep the site going)
*Submissions are now closed for our new print journal “The Whiskey Mule Diner” named after our online anthology that was inspired by Tom Waits. This journal has now expanded to become a new print journal endeavor that includes poetry, art, writings, photography and more inspired by musicians, artists, writers/poets, movies & actors/actresses see this link for more Introducing a new print journal dedicated to poetry, writings, art & more inspired by music, artists, movies, and writers “The Whiskey Mule Diner”feversofthemind@gmail.com (all poetry/writings/essays, art, photography will need to be submitted by June 1st for one of the first 2 issues) please put in Subject the artist you are submitting poetry/etc inspired by. Include bio. No need for cover letter. Only in word doc, pdf or body of e-mail for writing submissions.We do NOT send rejection e-mails if you want to withdraw anything or have any questions on your work please send us an e-mail. We DO send acceptance e-mails however. Also, for editing/curating reasons we will most likely add a considered piece(s) to the website prior to any print publications. We are unable to pay contributors however you will receive a free PDF of the journal. (Even the editors have to pay for a copy for themself) Please consider donating to our PayPal at feversofthemind@gmail.com
*WEB SUBMISSIONS ONLY* (Couldpossibly will be used in future print journal anthologies) For editing/curating reasons we will most likely add a considered piece(s) to the website prior to any print publications.
We are open for Poetry Showcases for anyone to send 3-5 poems/prose. If not all pieces are accepted. I will post the 1 or 2 poems but will not be considered a showcase.
We are unable to provide compensation at this time contributors. We have to reach out through the year for donations just to keep the site going. This is for the art of poetry, music, art & other creatives.
Some poetry/art published on this site could periodically be taken down if space is running low. You will be guaranteed at least 6-8 months exposure on our website. No promises after that and don’t take it personal.
Themes we are Looking for Poetry/prose/articles/other styles of writing are for Adhd Awareness, Mental Health, Anxiety, Culture, History, Social Justice, LGBTQ Matters/Pride, Love, Poem series, sonnets, physical health, pandemic themes, Trauma, Retro/pop culture, inspired by music/songwriters, artist, inspired by classic & current writers, frustrations.
OnlineSubmissions could include Poetry, Art, submitted Book Reviews, culture pieces, rants, pre-published poetry from self-published materials, defunct lit mags, pieces from other lit mags/books/blogs with permissions. We prefer 3-5 poems sent unless you are sending for a writing prompt. There could be exceptions to this rule of course. If we take 3-5 or more poems from you will we feature you as a poetry showcase on the website.
We prefer submissions with a bio to help promote your work. Please let us know if something has been previously published, we will make a judgment call on whether able to include. I don’t love the idea of sending rejection letters. If you don’t receive acceptance assume we passed up this time and send something else. If you have simultaneous submissions out there, please keep this in mind. If not accepted at first, Just try again…We will not accept pieces that we deem racist, sexist, homophobic, or have pornographic themes, photos, or any type of nudity in submissions.
Out now the Deluxe Edition of “Before the Bridges Fell”
https://amzn.to/3ftkxNX for a copy on paperback or kindle (U.S.) please check availability in your country. Some countries take awhile for the paperback to be released. It could be a few days to a couple months until available.
https://amzn.to/3GDnRBJ Before I Turn Into Gold Inspired by Leonard Cohen cover art by Geoffrey Wren
https://amzn.to/3XmgPai Hard Rain Poetry: Forever Dylan Anthology cover art by Geoffrey Wren
The Whiskey Mule Diner Journal will include past blog posts and new submissions sent to us at feversofthemind@gmail.com
Each issue will include sections dedicated to certain musicians, artists, actors/actresses, writers/poets. Looking for poetry & other writing styles (prose, sonnets, haiku, essays), artwork (AI artwork works as well), photography, drawings & more.
With every new submission send a bio & any social media info.
We do not send rejection e-mails. If you want to withdraw a poem or have any specific questions regarding what you have sent, please just send us an e-mail at feversofthemind@gmail.com We do send acceptances however. Also, for editing/curating reasons we will most likely add a considered piece(s) to the website prior to any print publications. We are unable to pay contributors. After an issue comes out pieces could be published on this online blog and will be promoted online as well. Each contributor will receive a free pdf. Even the editors have to pay for these issues! No cover letter needed and please only send in word doc, pdf or in subject of e-mail.
If you'd like to donate to our PayPal the e-mail for that is also feversofthemind@gmail.com
The next batch of musical artists we are focusing on will include (but not limited/you are free to send work you've done on other artists/writers as well) Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Townes Van Zandt and also we are re-visiting other past subjects we've had on both past print issues and online anthologies that'll be revisited in one of our first issues since we already have some pieces on these Andy Warhol, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Claude Monet, Jack Kerouac, Langston Hughes, Elliott Smith, Pablo Neruda, Lou Reed, Audrey Hepburn, Prince, Depeche Mode, Elvis Costello, The Dirty Three/Warren Ellis, Marilyn Monroe
Once you’re fully inside the Constant Symbol
and everywhere you look
the synchronicities
are increasing and accelerating
you think oh no this must be death
but maybe not so until you discover the source
but now mathematics and physics
look like the mere work of a factotum
who can’t see anything.
Well, you had no choice but to come along this way
and look at several methods
for thinking yourself out of it
like the subjectivity of a purely personal multiverse—
like social media from Erebus—
and then you ask Chief where’s the internet
and he surprises you
and says North or South Carolina or something
which is just a metaphor
for something much deeper and scarier
and immaterial
which involves Truth and Logic Deconstructed
and so you say One Thing
and you think your childhood church
is going to put a hit on you—
maybe one day I’ll wake up and be alive—
like that summer at Mizzou studying French
and popping Xanax outside Shattered
and then drinking and dancing all night—
and embrace all the forms so formerly
thought to be so far apart.
On the Steps
Adam the Jeweler and I were sitting outside
Starbucks listening to the beautiful muzak
of an old rock legend
around whom many people had passed.
“Do you think he was jinxed,” I asked.
Typically wise, Adam responded,
“Aren’t we all?”
Look, I’m trying to create a classification here.
All sense and rhetoric are exterior.
They had me see a shrink at NYU because of my voracious
drinking and right away I knew he was cool
because we both smoked in his office
and once during a session as I was going on and on
and mentioned that my father liked to tell stories
he broke in and said,
“So you’re telling me you’re a storyteller.”
And when I asked him if he thought I should stop drinking
he was pretty vague and noncommittal.
Because he knew things
had to run their course
and that I was required
to become
fully daemonized.
You know, it just occurred to me right now
that I might have come so far
that I could benefit from some assertive self-talk.
I think it works once you’re coming out of purgatory.
Maybe I’ll send this to the New Yorker. Don’t scoff!
Oh frenemies, maybe I’ll place all this
on the steps of Wash U.!
To Whom it May Concern
I cannot bear to bring my unconscious truth
out into the light.
I think people would think
I looked like an asshole, a maniac.
There is the sense, though,
that I don’t know what I’m saying.
When I was down at Mizzou making
a feeble attempt at studying physics—I knew
it was my last chance to fuck around—I was
getting the answers egregiously wrong but
I kept telling myself around that time
that I was inside the primary process.
Maybe the unconscious is bipolar
and the conscious is paranoid persecution.
Maybe I’ve created a new diagnosis.
Oh, I’m renouncing everything.
All that matters
is the person
to whom I’m addressing this.
Upon Fame
You’ve got to get to where you just don’t care
if anyone’s listening. The strongest note
is the one which was never sent.
As for me and the Old Man—once I was hit
with the spirit I quit
listening to anything he’d ever said.
Curiously, after Diana got with Red
she asked me to write her a letter.
All I can say on that subject is that
the one she got was the seventeenth draft.
Incredible Apologia
One can’t help but feel
after one’s written a pretty good poem
that one’s gotten away with something.
Like when I was on the 14th floor of Barnes-Jewish
and sang out so loudly
and then had to be given some Haldol and Ativan.
So hard to sing at the very end of the world.
And Lord, I wanted to be back in time
but I didn’t want this.
Bio: Matthew Freeman's seventh collection of poems, I Think I'd Rather Roar, was just published by Cerasus Poetry. He holds an MFA from the University of Missouri-St Louis.
All of March. Send poetry and other writings/art influenced by Tom Waits for the Online Anthology “The Whiskey Mule Diner” to be posted here on Fevers of the Mind. Send to feversofthemind@gmail.com include bio and poems on a word doc or e-mail body.
Fevers of the Mind 