The February Featured Poet is J. Michael Seals

Please feel free to email J. Michael at: jmichaelseals@gmail.com

DRAGON

I knew you were the dragon 
But I chose to try and grasp
This by the tail while 
You were sleeping
And try and rectify the past

I let the fire consume me
I couldn’t break your razor grip
You drug me through the darkness
And threw me in an endless pit
You wanted more than entry
Or to edify my soul

I refused you for another
While you cast me in this hole
My will severely shaken
As I try to find a way
To claw myself to freedom
To maybe see the light of day

My dragon sits at the edge of
The abyss it calls its home
A pet or the next feeding
The dragon hates to eat alone
Should I have brought some yellow roses?
Perhaps some poppies to the meal
To bribe the dragon for a pardon
Before the sentence became real

Still she hovers right above me
With her wings spread open wide
To try and gain a point of vantage
Leaving nowhere more to hide
Because the lizards arms gave comfort
For a minute to the blind
But when my eyes were opened
Cold blood and scales is what I find

BEST BEHAVIOR

feed my new addiction
fill my soul with what I crave
my body begs for mercy
while my mind becomes your slave
I know this could be poison 
all I want it is just a taste
our venom may be different
still every kiss I place is laced
if I feel you deeply clawing
through my skin and in bones
I pray your grip is sturdy
these primates never gorge alone
this is how they found me
losing at the devil's games
they left you something living
as they grow drunk off what remains
they’ve consumed most of my being
and torn apart my very soul
so I surrender these last ruins
and abdicate my self control

MANGLED

I can’t stand to bare this burden 
Guilt that crushes all it sees 
As I lay crippled in its shadow 
Atrophied by this disease 
My muscles fail to move me 
And my bones becoming weak 
Lungs so full and heavy 
Mouth too dry to speak 
Spitting silica and carbon 
As I expel my dying air
A soul so broke and mangled 
Damaged far beyond repair 
The pieces don’t resemble 
Anything I thought I knew 
Hands around my larynx 
As my face is turning blue 
My skin becoming brittle 
As friction turns me into flames 
Fire spreading through this body 
Until nothing more remains 

J. Michael has been a resident of Middle Tennessee since 1999 after moving from the banks of the Mississippi river in eastern Iowa. 

He currently works in the restaurant business full-time and enjoys a multitude of hobbies, including writing, playing music and organic gardening.