...
The Art
of Dan Abernathy
The Spoken Word
June 2017
Contributors:
Dan Abernathy
Carman Hittle
Mya Swain
Jocelyn Moore
I’m Missing
I’m missing
the bump-start breakfast of
thick sliced bacon,
caffeine,
nicotine
and Jack Daniels in my coffee,
hot and without cream.
I’m missing
the long wide-open days of
cross tops,
windowpane,
cheep grass,
even cheaper beer
and the road trips isolated from all that is.
I’m missing
the carefree evenings
that turned into dawn,
tequila shots,
loud music that made you dance,
the party girls that lived to live,
and the ones that had misplaced
the word known as “No.”
I’m missing
the understanding
that it has come to this,
stiffness and pain when I stand up,
a constant buzzing in my ears,
weight that seems to be here to stay,
and hair that won’t.
Rice and fruit in the mornings,
salads at night
and cheap wine from a black box,
because it’s just easier.
I’m missing
the mishaps and adventures rousing
the reason why I write
this constant stream of thoughts
that tumble from my existence,
the ones that are ruled by none,
while wondering if someday
Perhaps you’ll miss them too.
~ Dan Abernathy
To Fool the Fools
Standing in front of a chipped
and stained porcelain sink,
crumpled brown paper towels
scattered across the floor,
like wilted and discarded flowers,
with vibrant graffiti and gang tags
sprayed across the walls.
I stare into the dingy and cracked
blood splattered mirror
in an overused public restroom.
The heat of summer
turns the smoldering room temperature
and air
to putrid ammonia
and scorching mildewed stench.
I take a long deep look
into the person I see standing there.
I look like I understand,
but all I can see,
all I can know
is a lie.
A colossal fabrication
used to fool the fools.
~ Dan Abernathy
To Fool The Fools was recently published in the Literary Journal, In Between Hangovers
You’re Not A CEO
Mr. President of the United States of America
I do not know
what is going on with your hairika.
The U.S. of A. is not a company,
run by a CEO.
The Presidency is about diplomacy
and helping our country grow.
It is hard
to hold your head up proud,
when countries around the World
are laughing out loud.
You would not put up with
disrespectful, behavior from
employees of yours.
“You’re Fired,” would ring
from windows and doors,
We the people
would rather you be a president,
than see you as
a golf course resident.
I believe your pants
go on one leg at a time,
the same as the people
across the line.
I am not poking fun,
or running you down,
but some things you say,
do make me frown.
I do not want to deal
your ego a blow,
but Mr. President Trump
You are not a CEO.
~ Carmen Hittle
Pinedale, Wyoming
You’re Not A CEO
Mr. President of the United States of America
I do not know
what is going on with your hairika.
The U.S. of A. is not a company,
run by a CEO.
The Presidency is about diplomacy
and helping our country grow.
It is hard
to hold your head up proud,
when countries around the World
are laughing out loud.
You would not put up with
disrespectful, behavior from
employees of yours.
“You’re Fired,” would ring
from windows and doors,
We the people
would rather you be a president,
than see you as
a golf course resident.
I believe your pants
go on one leg at a time,
the same as the people
across the line.
I am not poking fun,
or running you down,
but some things you say,
do make me frown.
I do not want to deal
your ego a blow,
but Mr. President Trump
You are not a CEO.
~ Carmen Hittle
Pinedale, Wyoming
First flight
Soaring high in the sky
Never waiting to saying goodbye
Flapping his wings he flies
Not a cloud
Not a sound
Slightly a breeze
Some worms to seize
Floating down with ease
A bird’s new flight
Is the one that gets them high
This is what makes them fly
Soaring high in the sky
~ Mya Swain
Pinedale, Wyoming
Hyporheic Zones
(“hi-poe-ree-ick”: water saturated area that supports invertebrate fauna and its impact on the larger ecosystem)
I study flow and rivers bend
the force of waters as they send
the cobbles, sands and tumbling stones
to form the hyporheic zones,
the hidden hyporheic zones,
and banks and myriad waterways
the base of ecosystem braids
which host adult and larvae too
a tiny backless water zoo,
within the hyporheic zones.
In lands the mighty glaciers made
here hummocked hills were overlaid
and ice melt opened rocks and stones
stretch miles of hyporheic zones,
wide miles of hyporheic zones.
Unbound by channel rock and silt
a three dimensioned water quilt
in length and depth and width exchange
the liquids dance an interchange,
ballet in hyporheic zones.
The salmonids and leaping trout
which spawn in frosty wet redoubt
find oxygen where waters meld
and habitat unparalleled,
upon the hyporheic zones.
Life giving hyporheic zones.
- Jocelyn Moore
contributes from Pinedale, Wyoming
The Parade
I walk naked
in a small town parade
with nothing but a faded flag
wrapped, flapping
and popping behind me.
No one notices,
no one cares
as I step over horse shit
and remember the gray colt,
the one I raised from birth,
is now nothing but glue
holding memories
in a young girls scrap book.
~ Dan Abernathy
The Parade
was recently published in the Literary Journal, Outlaw Poetry
April 2017
Contributors:
Todd Moore
Dan Abernathy
Donal Mahoney
A.D. Whans
March 2017
Contributors:
Dan Abernathy
Katie Ernst
Jocelyn Moore
Shayla Peredies
February 2017
Contributors:
Dan Abernathy
Katie Ernst
Bonnie McDonnall
Contributing to the Chaos is Seeking Poetry Submissions!
Contributing to the Chaos is seeking well-crafted poems, three poems per submission. Include poets name, location, where to be followed on the web. Expect a semi-timely response. We publish poetry on a weekly basis. As of now, the Contributing to the Chaos cannot pay for poetry, but poetry and links will be kept live on the website. Email them with subject title, Poetry Submission – Your Name, to danielschaos88@gmail.com
What we like:
Contributing to the Chaos and its readers like travelers, vagabonds and gypsies of all shapes and sizes, especially those with a sense of bohemian vagrancy of dark, jovial and yet humble, the ones that are electrified to be known as an outlaw poet. Beatnik type poems with a little sparkle and a lot more grime that would make Boroughs, Bukowski and Brautigan take note. Above all we are a kind bunch that care for nature and the natural way of being while seeking a hedonistic way and we love to laugh. If you fit into this wide range of anti-conformity and can contribute, or just have something that totally doesn’t fit into any category but you want us to read, please send them in.
Contributing to the Chaos is a weekly newsletter that promotes the eclectic ways of Dan Abernathy, but in doing so he surrounds himself with like-minded talented people that bring us all to life. Thought provoked freethinking that flows towards free speech. It’s an underground type newsletter for open minded people highlighting the arts, hot springs, poetry, travel, moments of compassion, moments of political stupidity and all the wonderful oddities that catch the eye. A place where no is seldom heard.