Published inScribe·PinnedMember-onlyA Creative Writer’s Curriculum VitaeA draft in poetic verse form — I wrote a story of true horror once on the backside of a cocktail napkin (the front was drenched in dried spittle of other people’s misery) sitting at a roadside shanty bar I happened upon at a ghost town’s gate a wee bit east — or was it west? — of the northern star…Scribe2 min readScribe2 min read
Published inScuzzbucket·PinnedMember-onlyThe Hypocritic OathA poem in contemplation of humanity’s false virtue — I wasn’t always this cynical critical shell of myself. And yet somewhere along the way, I’ve lost my way. Courage and faith tossed aside now replaced by wariness. I move through the morning fog — Tired. Adrift. A being of ethereal insignificance. I criticize you; you criticize me. I break promises…Scuzzbucket2 min readScuzzbucket2 min read
Published inAbout Me Stories·PinnedMember-onlyAbout Me — Shelli RealsMy speed dating “About Me” story goes something like this. . . — I’m well into my fifth decade of trips around the sun. Yes, I’m getting old! My hair is turning gray, the lines on my face are settling in. My boys have grown into brilliant young men with lives that extend well beyond their momma’s reach. …About Me3 min readAbout Me3 min read
Published inScuzzbucket·2 days agoMember-onlyWasted TimeA free verse poem — Wasted time Two words of lime green graffiti melt through my eyes and seep into my mind as I drive beneath a rust encrusted overpass. Wasted time A neon tagline winks only at me as I drive (no-handed!) down a stretch of pavement that sits in time-out somewhere between twilight and Tuesday…Scuzzbucket1 min readScuzzbucket1 min read
Published inScribe·4 days agoMember-onlyBits-n-Bobs of You-n-MeA prose poem — I don’t mean to sound trite. Quite the contrary, actually. Surely you can imagine how grand it would be to speak original words in a universal language no one has ever spoken before. Would you give your left kidney to me if I was to die without it? Only my right…Poetry2 min readPoetry2 min read
Published inScuzzbucket·Nov 17Member-onlyStuckA micro musing on reading between the lines — Scuzzbucket1 min readScuzzbucket1 min read
Published inScribe·Nov 9Member-onlyIn StillnessA poem of existential musings — In stillness when we truly listen the gods grant us an abundance of truth with love bursting through unadorned in its purest form. This message is woven, so it seems among poems penned by master poets of the ages from Caedmon to (John) Gardner and yon. Caught between the poet’s spilled…Scribe1 min readScribe1 min read
Published inScuzzbucket·Nov 6Member-onlyWhen Did You Last Listen to Silence?A poem in contemplation of the opposition of noise — Sometimes I wonder how did we get here/ Seems like all we ever hear is noise — Kenny Chesney, “Noise,” Track 4, Cosmic Hallelujah (2016) Silence falls from the edge at the dead of the night when the whippoorwills quiet their song to muted lullaby. Sounds unspoken beckon…Scuzzbucket2 min readScuzzbucket2 min read
Published inScribe·Nov 1Member-onlyAs IfAn angst poem for today — I am outside of myself today falling as if the darkness has arrived unannounced uninvited constricting my psyche in a stranglehold so that all I have left today is to survive one step one day at a time one ever-loving stab of worthlessness one after another bringing me to my knees in my head yet I click the keyboard keys today working as if the sunshine will appear expected venerated gift-wrapping my essence in welcome embrace so that…Scribe1 min readScribe1 min read
Published inScribe·Oct 16Member-onlyOf Times UnsungA poem — cold alone threadbare lyrics bursting at the seams black-n-white grand piano keys wield only so much magic before the tapestries of days past fall unheard unsung into nothingness. proud stoic righteous memoirs built on conjecture music sheets like photo albums hold only so much wisdom before the recollections of old fade away attuned to oblivion…Scribe1 min readScribe1 min read
