UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY
JASON KELLY RICHARDS

COLONEL SANDERS AND JOHNNY CASH

When she left in the middle of the night
with a stranger dad chose the garage as his cell
and shared it nightly with Colonel Sanders, Johnny Cash,
and the population of Folsom Prison. Armed with a fifth of vodka,
take out from KFC and an eight track copy of his favorite record
he identified with the lost souls stuck behind the lonely walls.
He laughed at the DIRTY OLD EGG SUCKING DOG
and sang along with FLUSHED FROM THE BATHROOM OF YOUR HEART.
The more he drank the louder he'd inform the darkness
how he'd been wronged and wished he had a ticket
on THE ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL.
His pain was as DARK AS THE DUNGEON
and as hard as he tried to hide the hurt
he failed to convince me or Johnny or
even the colonel when he refused to sing
along with I STILL MISS SOMEONE.


A DRUNK WOMAN AT THE BAR

tries to keep her composure
chain smoking non-filtered cigarettes
as buzzards circle
and pick at the last of her pride.
Every happy-hour Romeo
approaches offering a line
thinner than the space between
what may have been
and what sadly is.


A NEW BRUTALITY

In this world sick
with war the home front
is as deadly as the countries
we insist on liberating.
Schools become battlefields
ripe for extremists
unwilling to accept
their shattered worlds
as egos retaliate like
suicide bombers
over something
no one
is willing
to change


Jason Kelly Richards was born in Kentucky
in a classic year for Chevrolets,
raised in North Carolina during the best
decade of music and is currently
planning his escape from the Sunshine State.
He has been published many times online and
off including the Chiron Review, Pearl,
PoetsCanvas, UndergroundVoices and several
others.







© 2007 Underground Voices