j.j.campbell
dare him to try
and this is what happens when you
remember god always hated youyour father’s hands around your neck
screaming he brought you into this
world, he will fucking take you outit took all you had to not spit in his
face and dare him to tryyou can’t forget you were raised
by a cowarda man afraid to die
a man afraid to live
a man that was hell bent to make sure
you lived the same miserable fucking
life he didand on the quiet nights alone you know
damn well he had more success at that
than you ever want to give that piece
of shithang on to the few that still love you
more than he ever had
more than he ever thought
you would ever haveyou were supposed to be nothing more
than someone good at digging ditches
or gravesit always brings a smile to your face
when you think of him dying alone
at the VAdementia finally finishing what he
was too chicken shit to do himself
a few sleepless nights
she’s off dancing
with the ghosts
againput a candle
in the windowafter a few
sleepless nights
you’ll fall back
into all the old
bad habitstoo much weed
too much porn
too much thinking
you could turn back
time with a few more
puffsthat candle burned
out years agoshe never came back
none of them do
we all know what
that usually meansyet, somehow hope
hasn’t left you to rot
on the side of the roadstumble into a ditch
with your last bottle
of jackyour father would
finally be proudthis is my manifesto
wasted my afternoon with
the ghosts in the machinesoon, i’ll be scribbling
poems with my bloodyet another misunderstood
geniusyet i’ve never shot up
a dollar general or a
church or a fucking
movie theaterbut if this is my manifesto,
then here it goeslove one another
read better books
it is only your fault
for being lonelylisten more
go to a river and
just be quietput your ear to the
ground and take
a breathyou will never find
all the answers in the
basementfree yourself from the cage
and never forget to laugh
laugh every fucking day
you can
J.J. Campbell (1976 - ?) was raised by wolves yet graduated high school with honors. He's been widely published over the years, most recently at Synchronized Chaos, Horror Sleaze Trash, Cajun Mutt Press, Disturb the Universe Magazine and Mad Swirl. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)