Poetry – John Sweet

[you said love will never die]

laughter in the face of

someone else’s pain

poetry like god puking up

a weekend binge

nothing beautiful, but i’ve always

known myself to be ugly,

so this is okay

this is a man with a gun

mowing down four strangers

trapped in the corner of a crowded room

two fourteen year-old girls getting

high in the

second-story apartment next door

the future always shaped by

the ignorance of the past

and where do you place yourself

in the picture?

do you talk about

your father’s suicide?

will you let it

influence your own?

tell me if i’m getting

too personal here

John Sweet sends greetings from the rural wastelands of upstate NY. He is a firm believer in writing as catharsis, and in compassionate nihilism which, as luck would have it, has all the best bands. His published collections include NO ONE STARVES IN A NATION OF CORPSES (2020 Analog Submission Press) and THERE’S ONLY ONE WAY THIS IS GOING TO END (Cyberwit, 2023).