From the Outside Looking In
Fire vehemently blew up within the gaslight before the lantern door closed.
Angrily reacting to the match sending a jab into the propane vape.
The flame bobbed & weaved, struggling to be freed from the wick, needing to escape.
Throwing itself side to side, as a catfish does when it falls victim to predatory fishing line hooks.
Stuck in a cage, maybe the flame’s a ghost of an unlabeled place.
Growing brighter, doing it’s job, giving light, adulting while it’s rage is overlooked.
There’s bias against the flame,
its dangerous like pulling the trigger to send bullets ablaze.
Despite, the beautiful way that flame illuminates the dark web of imperfections on the glass panes.
Allegiance Adherence
A vape of mist,
A ghost of a feeling
A dark web of adulting
Worship
Triggers a wave of unlabeled
Emotion
Nebulous in the flickering
gaslight spreading dim
reflections over
steaming sulfurous hot springs
half cooked
catfish bob to the surface
And the chant of the supreme priest
enthralls all into trance
as the poisonous barbs
make mince meat
of mobs directed in madness
loyal to bias which makes them all sane
Swim
a trigger pulled
a catfish crumbles
red pooling in a dark web
as the water boils,
a corpse floating,
biased as it’s tossed in the waves
only a ghost left behind.
vape trailing in the water
fog brewing amidst the gore
a stew made of suffering
and the fish is left to die
swimming with its entrails
pouring into the water
each gulp is
a jab in the side
an unlabeled headstone
formed in the bones
of a fish
that can no longer
swim.
lurk
you scorn me.
a ghost amidst the gaslights
a lonely catfish hiding in the reeds
you lurk in the dark web
waiting as bait for the unsuspecting
an unlabeled trigger for something meant to be
no left hook, or undercutting jab can fight the unseen
hidden bias of what they mock as adulting
a vapor mask for being lonely
winter wishes
By gaslight I sit by the lake // watching the dark web of the water glow // under the ghost of a crescent moon // a catfish floats slowly by with // gills and whiskers afire
The vape // of a cold winter dawn // jabs at my frozen face an // unlabeled reminder // to leave behind my youth // and step into the role that they // baptized for me long ago
I am biased // towards staying a child // just a little longer // until I figure out // how to start adulting // assuming the responsibilities // that are held to my head // their finger on the trigger
nevermore
the gaslight melted your ghost into vape
i sit watching the dark web of your treachery unravel
the water into which you fell ripples out
a catfish jumps
the trigger of my gun smoking
the bias of my dress covered in blood
you will do no more adulting
your grave shall be in this unlabeled pond
your crime is now your memory
since i will destroy your legacy
Dark Web Catfish
If a catfish gets caught in a dark web’s biased stitches, it will not jab at the ghost of a responsible adult but instead it will vaporize then trigger a natural gas deposit causing a gaslight to illuminate the brevity of fishing at night on the unlabeled river.
Making Waves
In the flickering gaslight
she appeared a ghost
draped in the dark web of a bias cut gown
floating below the vape
fog dancing off the river.
Unlabeled fear jabs me
fingering the trigger of my sidearm
I move closer gazing down into the mist
no apparition
just frenzied catfish
stirring the atmosphere
adulting
making waves.