Tag: art

The Beat Poetry Outlaws Must Go On! “Strange Dreams” by HilLesha O’Nan

Inspired by the song “Psycho” by Eddie Noack and also Jack Kittel

Strange Dreams

I have been having strange dreams again, Papa. I dreamt that I saw Johnny White with Maggie Johnson at the soda fountain. I must have blacked out because I woke up in the woods with blood on my hands and a shovel nearby. I wouldn’t reckon that they're beneath the pine tree that Johnny and I would neck for hours. My hands were bone white as I clutched the steering wheel, Martin & Lewis crooning "That’s Amore" on the radio, tears dripping down, driving with no destination in mind as long as I am away from that pine tree.

The night air was thick with an eerie stillness, and the moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the deserted road. Memories of that fateful night flooded my mind like a torrent, the image of Johnny and Maggie laughing and holding hands at the soda fountain burned into my consciousness. 

I could still feel the weight of the shovel in my hands, the cold metal cutting into my palms as I dug frantically under the pine tree. The taste of iron lingered in my mouth, and the metallic tang of blood filled my nostrils. 

As I drove further into the night, the road stretched out endlessly before me, a dark ribbon cutting through the silent forest. The radio played on, a jarring contrast to the chaos in my mind. Dean Martin's voice filled the car, the haunting of the happier times now lost to the shadows. 

Tears blurred my vision as I drove, the road disappearing beneath me in a haze of uncertainty. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I had to keep moving, away from that pine tree and the secrets buried beneath its roots. The night was guiding me through the darkness as a shroud to hide my sins.

The Beat Poetry Outlaws Must Go On! “Crowned” by Elizabeth Cusack

I thought everything was fine until your phone call. ~ Merle Haggard

Crowned

I found so many places 
Where I could fall apart
I kept looking for the reason
Why you broke my heart
What cold decision was it
That made you make that call
When the thorns entered my heart
And It’s forty years later
I’m still wandering apart
And you never told me why
And no matter how I try
I’ll never understand
They’ll bury me with roses
With the seven swords of Mary
I’ve carried all this time
So I keep wandering 
To find a place to lose you
I’ll wander till I die
They’ll cover me with roses
Lay a wreathe against my heart
I’ll say darling I’ve crossed over
I found a place to fall apart. 

©️ Elizabeth Cusack, March 2024

The Beat Poetry Outlaws Must Go On! “An Outlaw and a Lady” by Wendy Cartwright

BIO:
Wendy Cartwright is a poet and author from Southern Indiana. She loves to tell the stories of her life through poetry. She has been published in issues of Night Owl Narrative by Cajun Mutt Press and has been selected as a featured writer on their website as well. She has a piece appearing in Ovation, an anthology of poems collected by Jimmy Broccoli, and has been selected as a featured writer on dearbooze.com. A volume of Wendy's poetry is set for release in late 2024, published by Storeylines Press.

An Outlaw and a Lady

Have you ever been to Woodlawn?
I spent the day walking the floors, the hills and valleys, listening for sounds underground
An outlaw by my side a real rural cowboy
Shivering in the multi-floor mausoleum, thermostat set to preserve
From Little Jimmy Dickens and his ornate plaque to Jerry Hubbard, aka Jerry Reed
I guess stage names don’t matter when you’re dead.
We hunted high and low, backtracking, retracing steps and found Webb Pierce
The damn tourist map was wrong
George Jones and Tammy Wynette buried in different areas of the same final resting place
Where’s Johnny?
The Man in Black is in Hendersonville alongside June, but the outlaw and I went in October
We expected a crowd but were the only ones there
The coins and picks and flowers of a sold-out crowd scattered in memoriam, remnants of a show
And the devil went down in Mount Juliet
Almost in the back of the cemetery to the right, I’m still listening for the sounds from underground
It’s just me and the outlaw
No fiddle, no squealing strings
After three different cemeteries in silence I realized
The sounds I’d been waiting to hear were those I’d been hearing all along
The soundtrack in the Ford between stops was the legacy left behind 
Shared between an outlaw and a lady.

Now taking submissions poetry/writing & art for Hard Rain Poetry II inspired by Bob Dylan (now only on this website)

artwork by (c) Geoffrey Wren

We are now taking submissions for art, poetry, prose, short stories, haiku, photography, digital art & more for the 2nd edition of poetry & art inspired by Bob Dylan: Hard Rain Poetry II
 email is feversofthemind@gmail.com

Submit now: “The Beat Outlaws Must Go On” poetry & art inspired by Cash, Kerouac, Willie, Waylon, Burroughs, Corso & more. Now only on website

Please include a bio with submissions to feversofthemind@gmail.com Are you inspired by old country, real current country, Beat Poetry, Outlaw poetry, Townes Van Zandt, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Jack Kerouac, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Jeannie C. Riley, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson,. Some older poems from past anthologies also may appear in this one!.