Mike Zone

Mike Zone

is the author of One Hell of a Muse, A Farewell to Big Ideas and Void Beneath the Skin and coauthor of The Grind. Editor in Chief at Rogue Wolf Press and a managing editor at Concrete Mist Press, a frequent contributor to Alien Buddha Press and Mad Swirl. His work has been featured in: Horror Sleaze Trash, Better Than Starbucks, Piker Press, Punk Noir Magazine, Synchronized Chaos, Outlaw Poetry and Cult Culture magazine.

Me drawing the venom out on a hot day

She dealt her pretty words- like blades
lilac mouthed milk goddess
didn’t I crawl through naked rubble mud for this…
to be strained-
my organs played vitally for a symphony of sorrow
the tragedy of it all- going
unnoticed
after
the fact
a kaleidoscope still-frame photo
this is why we use film for cameras
never to be made anymore
naturally decaying
our emotional fossils

An amerikan movie

Sometimes I wear my Black Lives Matter mask at work
in the retail wreckage
during a pandemic- people just buying shit- just to consume
how much sweat shop clothing and over-priced bedding does one organized flesh unit need?
They’re keeping Amerika great
proudly wearing flags, with blue lines in conjunction with nationalistic slogans taking us back
to the future a haunted vision of an idealized past teasing us with glittering gold
but I don’t care
especially when there’s no mask at all
I might say something
Or when poked and prodded
“I’m okay with it, I’ll let evolution do its work”
“No, no, god! god is in charge.” They charge
and lash out about my mask, saying all lives matter that they hope god grants me the light and the company should know…
bitches, Karen, John…whoever, whatever you are…
I just don’t like authoritarianism or racism…I’m sorry whatever inclinations you’re having are rendering you uncomfortable
“I won’t shop here, I’ll call the press, we’ll boycott!”
I don’t care and have enough money to find another shit job, so I tell them the truth
“Yeah, boycotts really do work, Goya Foods has been absolutely devastated…IF IT’S GOYA IT’S GOT TO BE GOOD!”|
then, I think of Goya’s Saturn devouring the Titans…a smile underneath my mask…the consumers being consumed…
Goya is good
Sometimes I miss the kitchens, and the warehouses but my third testicle hernia warns me of the latter
Like how centrists miss Obama and his continuing the forever wars of George Bush, smashing the Occupy Movement and negating a public option for health care and keeping prohibition intact
Neoliberalism of the business party, which wing do you want?
Deep fried, very little meat and substance for anyone
the simulation is literally bleeding out in the streets
our land which is not our land but their land is Dr. Strangelove when it should be a 2001 Space Odyssey
but would it even matter,
if we were in love?
wouldn’t that be strange?