Three Poems by J.J. Campbell

 

avoid the punches

 

nothing goes

as planned

 

there isn’t

a reason we

should even

have a schedule

 

roll out of bed

and just start

trying to avoid

the punches

 

bills, endless

assholes calling

on the phone

 

arthritis so damn

bad that heroin is

the most viable

option

 

and they tell me

death shouldn’t

be looked at as

relief

 

these young souls

have no clue what’s

coming for them

 

 

but every blue moon

 

the strangers

don’t understand

any hatred of life

 

but every blue

moon I come

across someone

who understands

depravity, despair

and hopelessness

 

but sadly

 

two depressed

souls don’t make

a happy life

 

it’s a race to the

death and neither

of us are lucky

enough to win

 

 

more than anything left on this earth

 

a random text at

two in the morning

 

to the woman that

swears she loves you

more than anything

left on this earth

 

yet, you haven’t heard

anything from her in

over a month

 

and it is always that

first feeling that something

more than self-hatred could

actually exist for you on

this earth

 

and then comes a right

cross out of nowhere

 

knocking the inevitable

dark reality back into

focus

 

not everyone gets the girl

 

rainbows don’t have pots

of gold

 

hell, they don’t even have

a beginning or an end

 

happiness is a concept

only meant for a higher

tax bracket

 

your father always told you

you’d be a better ditch digger

than a poet

 

yet another bottle of scotch

nearly gone

 

 

 

 

J.J. Campbell (1976 - ?) is old enough to know where the bodies are buried.  He’s been widely published over the years, most recently at Synchronized Chaos, Otoliths, Cajun Mutt Press, Terror House Magazine, and The Beatnik Cowboy.  You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)