John Chmura

I am so proud of this collection. #Poetry #NewJersey #Pines #People #SugarSand #Ghosts and, of course, #PorkRoll

#AcrosticOctober #FULLMOON @daveashleypoet.bsky.social

#SomethingEveryday #Pumpkin @sonnetsmith.bsky.social geese eating gooseneck gourds like trump eating pumpkins is that aspirational cannibalism? *** too hard to resist deer feast in the pumpkin field under hunter moon

#AcrosticOctober #FEVER @daveashleypoet.bsky.social

#SomethingEveryday #Opera @sonnetsmith.bsky.social mama mia you know you’re my best friend right but i can’t see myself spending a night at the opera with you on second thought it’s probably better than a day at the races or sleeping on the sidewalk

She’s a little one, but she’s everything to him…

I keep imagining this as an alien skull…

Twelve seconds of #peace for anyone who couldn’t get to the #ocean this beautiful weekend. Best with the sound on.

The first time her little #paws ever touched the #ocean…

#AcrosticOctober #GALE @daveashleypoet.bsky.social

#AcrosticOctober #DRIP @daveashleypoet.bsky.social Believe me, this is aspirational and in no way autobiographical…

#SomethingEveryday #Kangaroo @sonnetsmith.bsky.social subbing in gym the kids loved when I did make believe nature treks back and forth on the court but as my knees gave out I descended from jungle cats and kangaroos to snakes snails and sloths

For this week's #PoemsAbout #Hollow, I'm thinking about how much strength it takes just to stand still. @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk #prompt #poetry #blueskypoetry #writesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #poets #creativewriting

#haiku #haikusaturday #firstfrost size 9 impressions follow me closely before frost melts

youtu.be/Qmy40hhmnqo?...

#SomethingEveryday #SnowLeopard @sonnetsmith.bsky.social his mom called him maurice his girl called him a playa his homeys called him junior his parole officer called him randomly his clients called him on burner phones the street called him snow leopard rarely seen but always looking fine

#AcrosticOctober #SHELTER @daveashleypoet.bsky.social I must have still had #PoemsAbout #Hollow on the brain: shot away just a shot away hollow point bullets expanding laterally through vital organs eviscerating raw flesh

@johnchmura.bsky.social also graciously pointed out during our group critique that this works as an ars poetica which i didn’t even think of. i write into the meta so much anyway i didn’t even notice, but i love the idea of this as a sort of artist’s statement.

#PoemsAbout #PoemsAloud #Hollow @thebrokenspine.co.uk This is how convincing my friend could sound.

Ruin a song by adding “In My Pants” to the title. Smells Like Teen Spirit In My Pants

Ruin a so song by adding “In My Pants” to the title. Babes Never Die In My Pants

Ruin a song by adding “In My Pants” The Night Chicago Died In My Pants

Ruin a song by adding “In My Pants” to the title. Don’t Fear The Reaper In My Pants Ain’t No Mountain High Enough In My Pants

#SOMETHINGEVERYDAY #ALLCAPS @sonnetsmith.bsky.social I WANT TO RIP THOSE DAMN RED CAPS OFF YOUR MAGGOT ADDLED HEADS YOU SICK SON OF A BITCHES KISS MY LIBERAL ASS!!!

#AcrosticOctober #MILKY @daveashleypoet.bsky.social mooohs over the frosty field incessant lowing under blood moon halflight livestock recount their names to not forget kin lost in generations of domesticity yearning for illusory freedom

#AmpersandAfterDark @madp03t.bsky.social without papers picking the corn rows clean snow geese

#AcrosticOctober #CHORTLE @daveashleypoet.bsky.social come on up here john and tell us what has you so giddy in the back row or would you rather just report directly to the principal’s office tell you the truth mr strychnine don’t act like you don’t know everyone smelled your fart in the assembly

#SomethingEveryday #Bones @sonnetsmith.bsky.social best art to reality predictor a)Dick Tracy two way wrist radio b)George Jetson briefcase/flying car c)Bones’s sick bay medical scanner apple watches are profligate imaging is the real mccoy but i pick george because no way he fit any work in that

#PoetsOfDoom @daveashleypoet.bsky.social @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @jenthorne.bsky.social, thank you for the nudge The classroom part is true. I wasn’t one of the students enjoying the benefits of dorm life, so that part is by way of extrapolation.

#AcrosticOctober #GOOSE @daveashleypoet.bsky.social going round this lake with audrey is as usual onerous oh shit, literally, every step is a figurative minefield

#AcrosticOctober #RAILWAY @daveashleypoet.bsky.social returning to my berth staggering along the narrow aisle I inch sideways past a fellow insomniac listing to their own private cell drunk we trade taut smiles and generic pleasantries yielding begrudgingly bellies rubbing

Was there a more bingeable album in the 1980s or any decade for that matter? I’m listening to it now and it is still utterly infectious!!!

Barker Jeckyl and Sister Hyde…

A man and his best friend crossing over to where…Middle Earth?

#AmpersandAfterDark @madp03t.bsky.social Good girl I said and patted her head whenever I put pennies beneath her tongue and she swallowed them. Dad sneered why are you talking to that thing? I said it’s magic and he guffawed magic would be if it shit nickels!

#AcrosticOctober #Plague @daveashleypoet.bsky.social picked up some kind of bug last time i left the house unmasked and forgot to carry extra gloves for doomscrolling under quite a funk both emotionally and physically

If this isn’t Zen, what is?

#HaikuSaturday #Halloween #Haiku #Rejected Rejected for Halloween, but I like them enough to share. Sometimes what isn’t there is as important as what is. In the first, I recall how we would switch costumes and revisit the houses that gave out full size candies. Did that switch give us the right?

#AcrosticOctober #SCARF @daveashleypoet.bsky.social In Junior High they loosed us on the town at lunch. We often lined up at the pizza parlor and scarfed down slices fresh out of the oven knowing it was going to burn the inside of our mouths. I took a pic of a pie about a year before they closed.

#SomethingEveryday #HaikuSaturday #sloths @sonnetsmith.bsky.social sloths can solve Rubik’s cubes faster than me

#HaikuSaturday #Haiku under the rain reflecting wigwags no skidmarks