Poetry: Selections from Jeremy Szuder

Gumption

We have scoffed at belief,


made emojis out of praying hands.

And as fire, flood, and storm

 

rape the very scaffolding that

this hut of man must tirelessly

sit upon, I cannot stop but wonder;

have we gone too far

in our pompous prideful ignorance


and pushed the fabled rule book of God

 

out into a cesspool of exuberant

decadence and loveless despair?

Will no Gods ever again grant us

 

the coveted light once used to frighten

our children and blind the eyes

of the wrong doers of this planet

 

and instead perhaps now,

they all have come together for this

stretch of one last lesson to learn...

that we have let go of far too much

to formulate anymore real human gumption?

Perhaps those Gods will have to wipe

 

us all clean away from the face of

our well overstayed space again.

Last Evening Twitch (Fifth Wind)

Me,

I crawl around inside the walls

of my own castle,

 

a glass of wine here, a poetry book

there, copious spoonfuls of

yogurt around one in the morning.

 

Cars zip past this address late at night,

and boxed in so nicely

and somehow sore but pacified

 

into the winks of this evening,

I sit on my throne of thorns,

more tired then awake, desperately

 

in search of that fifth wind that

might carry my tattered and bent

mind out into one more dose

 

of artistic celebration.

To those of you capable

of perhaps one more second

 

of concern, of interest in such

grandiose dandruff and fluff

to boot, here it comes...

 

the cats yawn and my children

toss and turn, wondering when

I will finally bring my simple

 

warmth of body into bed and

call it a fucking night already!

Jeremy Szuder is a chef by night and creator of poetry and illustrations by day. His past track record in the arts includes; 15 years as a musician in various bands (drums, vocals), graphic design work for clothing/skateboard companies, 25 plus years of self published Zines, showings of fine art in the underground art scene, a 10 year plus stint spinning vinyl at various events all across the city, and at present time continues to have both illustrations and poems published in over a dozen fine art and literary publications all across the US as well as Canada. He continues to call Los Angeles California, via Glendale, his home.