tickled my fancy
 
dark,
beautiful
eyes
 
the latest soul
that has tickled
my fancy
 
a hello seems
impossible
through these
constantly
changing
disguises
we need
to wear
 
but this is
what happens
when you only
find your
confidence in
the middle
of a pandemic
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
just imagine my luck
 
my mother talks
in her sleep now
 
last night, i caught
her getting up to
go walking
 
in my head, i was
thinking well, at
least she got her
walker first
 
but i know now
why all the weapons
were removed
 
i could just imagine
my luck
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on my own
 
the more i have watched
my mother age, the more
i know i will need to end
this journey on my own
 
sooner or later
 
the hollow look in her
eyes screams burden
 
i was there long before
she was
 
now the house of apathy
has turned into a competition
 
the winner gets the last
good urn
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
in a never-ending pandemic
 
sweating in a car
 
writing poems
 
exactly how i thought
it would go in my forties
 
waiting on my mother
to come out of a doctor's
appointment in a never-ending
pandemic
 
the dystopian dream never
ceases to amaze as long as
your hope has been destroyed
---------------------------------------------------------------------
slower and slower
 
i get the feeling
as the days drag
on slower and
slower during
this pandemic
 
that death would
be my best chance
to pass the time
 
it certainly beats
this shit circus
we have right
now

J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is old enough to know better. He’s been widely published over the years, most recently at Terror House Magazine, The Beatnik Cowboy, Horror Sleaze Trash, The Rye Whiskey Review and Mad Swirl. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)