Writing means sharing. It’s part of the human condition to want to share things – thoughts, ideas, opinions.
Paulo Coelho
••• The Mad Gallery •••
“The Human Domain 6” by featured artist David Sapp
Get lost in ALL of David’s hauntingly beautiful & oddly familiar compositions, as well as our other past featured artists, at our Mad Gallery!
••• The Poetry Forum •••
This last week on Mad Swirl’s Poetry Forum… we swallowed dread of a snakey head; we met an old codger, an avid sun dodger; we couldn’t stop a drop; we delved, inimical, in something biblical; we drew flies pretty, atomic city; we star-struck sat with cosmic cat; we most names found to hear star sound; we took a score, minus two, through a backward view. More or less… ~ MH Clay
AN ADULT POET (been at this 18 long years now) by Bradford Middleton
I open my archive & see how far I
Have come in this blink of an eye,
18 years. I see how this life has been
Captured by these words, all
These damnably beautiful words,
From my early
Experimentations in Dada technique
& my brief infatuations with WSB,
That’ll be Bill Burroughs to you & me,
Ginsberg & all the other Beats,
I arrived here & just knew it, I was
Somehow home.
If success is measured by money
Then I’ll admit I’ve been mostly
A complete failure but I have
Sold a few books down all these
Years & each one I sold with
My own damn genius felt like
Some kind of affirmation that all
Is not lost & I should just damn
Well carry on because if I
Could pay for stuff with all the
‘wows’ I’ve uttered to myself
When reading emails from
Editors & publishers then this
Life would surely be on easy street.
But sadly life ain’t like that in
Late capitalist twenty-first century
Britain where the rich will own
Everything & we poets will be forced
To work all the hours just to keep
My landlord’s family in their
Comfort & caviar that I help
Pay for!
August 23, 2025
editors note: Yes, we say so, too, “damn well carry on.” – mh clay
Architecture of Silence by Bhargab Chatterjee
She lights fire
With matches
To convene the stars
Because the sky creates an architecture
Of Silence.
I erase few names
on the sea beach.
August 22, 2025
editors note: Countless names in sand and stars. – mh clay
Feline odyssey by Luke Ritta
The gentle rubs of loving affection
On your hands, legs, and face lift your spirit and make your day.
Gaze into her hypnotic turquoise eyes and you will see the universe.
Exploding blinding supernovas.
Terrifying mind boggling blackholes. Billions of stars glimmer as Saturn dazzles.
Psychedelic nebulas frozen in the void like renaissance statues.
You gaze into each other’s souls and then you stroke her for a few more minutes in the spring sunshine.
Her deep purr echoes magnificently throughout space and time.
August 21, 2025
editors note: Trippin’ with Tabby. Your feline is(sees) forever. – mh clay
Atomic City by Mike Zone
Are you trying to catch flies?
Mouth agape during apocalyptic agenda kissing locusts
Hiroshima carbonate blood steel freakshow
Radioactive calcium deposits lengthening and throbbing
Recorded by drones
FALLOUT SHELTER – fallen
Where the children lie
Lovers and pets imprinted
Upon scorched remnant skyscraper walls
The phantoms of Nagasaki haunted Amerika 2.0
August 20, 2025
editors note: This unsettling sight must be fiction (in case it’s not, keep your trap shut). – mh clay
Brain Surgery by Jerome Berglund
by their acts
innocent
v. not guilty
the dove a
sacrificial animal
capital crime
palestinian jews
thy god
my god
heavenly hosts
the sustenance in
fallen locusts
speaking
in tongues
salad fork
August 19, 2025
editors note: Are we making sense, or just salad? – mh clay
a dropped fork by Patrick Sweeney
a dropped fork on the dinner plate next door
August 19, 2025
editors note: Butterfly effect or botched black beans? (or both?) – mh clay
A troubled relationship with the sun by Jason Melvin
How often I squint against you
shield you hand on my brow
or tug of a hat brim
How I bemoan your brightness
as I relax on the evening couch
bobbing my head to watch TV
as you push rays through a kitchen window
obscuring the picture while settling
You slash through the office blinds
and I dream of our near future
but upon leaving you hide behind rain clouds
How often you’ve burned me
and I’ve hated you for it
But morning birds sing louder
and words flow easier
when you tickle my neck
How your waking or wink before sleep
has pushed artistry
How I miss you in this gray moment
August 18, 2025
editors note: More light, less burn. (We welcome Jason to our crazy congress of Contributing Poets with this submission. Read more of his madness on his new page – check it out.) – mh clay
Medusa Medusa by Trier Ward
I open my mouth
and all that comes
out are SCREAMS-
snakes for hair
turning men to stone,
flying through the air,
I snatch my bow and
arrow, ready to
descend on the hero.
Come at me if you dare.
August 17, 2025
editors note: Who’s the hero now? – mh clay
••• Short Stories •••
If you’re hankerin’ for a tasty read, don’t let “Two Breakfasts“ by Contributing Writer David Sydney buzz on by ya!
Here’s what Short Story Editor Tyler Malone has to say about our featured weekend read:
Eat up before it gets cold!
Here’s a taste:
For Two by Tyler Malone
“Are you okay, Otto?”
Adding a few frown lines to his face, Otto stirred his oatmeal. He and his lukewarm cereal were next to Fred and Fred’s scrambled eggs that Thursday morning at Al’s Diner. Nothing is stronger than habit: this was another of their Thursday morning breakfasts together.
“I should’ve gotten the eggs. There’s something wrong with the oatmeal today, Fred.”
“How so?”
“Well… Just look.”…
Fly on over here to see what Fred sees!
•••
Stop & pick up this weekday’s featured read, “Bandage Man“ by Guest Writer Martha Ellen Johnson.
Here’s what Short Story Editor Tyler Malone has to say about our weekday featured read:
Even in the past, something waits for us. Teeth and hands that waited, still wait.
Here’s how this bandage starts to unravel:
Ghosted Past by Tyler Malone
A peaceful evening, alone in my home, sitting on my comfortable old sofa under a warm throw. I unfolded a single sheet of paper, read the short note written in a cramped script and I remembered something.
About three decades before, in the summer of 1990, when I was working in Child Protective Services, the agency mandated my participation in the S.C.A.R.symposium in Eugene, Oregon. I drove there south on 101, to 26 and onto I-5. At dusk on the longest hill along 26 there was a man wearing all white standing in the middle of the highway waving, summoning someone to stop. He didn’t look hurt. There were no cars stopped on the shoulder and he was far from any of the hamlets that frequently arose along the rural road. I didn’t stop. A woman alone can’t be too safe. Someone else will stop for him, maybe one of those pickup trucks guys with the gun rack in the back window of the cab.
I attended a seminar given by Kenneth Hanley PhD to increase my understanding of how aberrant adult behaviors develop. Dr. Hanley lectured about the predictable behaviors of adult criminals whose childhood development had been disrupted by trauma…
Pick-up the rest of this read right here!
••• Open Mic •••
Join Mad Swirl this 1st Wednesday of September (aka 09.03.25) when we’ll be doin’ the open mic voodoo that we do at Barbara’s Pavillion!
We will get things started with some musical grooves brought to you by Swirve (Chris & Tamitha Curiel, Gerard Bendiks) then hosts Johnny O & MH Clay will set the stage for some open mic madness!
This month we are featuring Dallas Slam Poet, Zach “Konichiwa” Schrotter! Here’s a bit about this madman:
A native of Wyoming, K-Zach has been a transplant to Texas since 1998, a graduate of the Drama program at Texas Woman’s University who has successfully gained back the Freshman 15 he lost running from his student loan officers. He’s hosted a top open mic in Denton at the Brickhaus Cafe, represented 3 Dallas based teams at the National Poetry Slam, was the 2005 Dallas Poetry Slam champion, and Co-Slammaster for the Dallas Poetry Grind.
In 2009, K-Zach joined the Dallas non-profit arts collective ArtLoveMagic, serving as a stage tech, sound tech and event producer with his wife of nearly 20 years, Kasi, where together they collaborated to help produce local art events like the Art&Coffee open mic series, multiple Dia De Los Muertos events and This Is True 2, an art event with visual artist pieces inspired by local poets, including Mad Swirlers Johnny O, MH Clay, Opalina Salas, B.A., Desmene Statum and Victory.
In 2014, K-Zach began an 8 year side hustle as host, technician and producer on a number of podcasts out of the DeepEllumOnAir and DallasOnAir studios including JediGoddess Presents, Iron Claw Wrestling Show, and The Rantcor Pit Live. His latest artistic endeavor is technical advisor, host, and producer of Game Shows and trivia contests as a part of the Games & Theory team for All-Con, a yearly gathering for fans of all things sci-fi, fantasy, comic books and nerdery here in DFW.
He hasn’t touched an open mic stage in a few years, but is grateful to the Mad Swirl of miscreants and mischief makers for having him out for this show. If you like his work, let him know. If you don’t like his work…the bar’s not that far. And the more you drink…the better he sounds.
Come to participate…
(preRSVP at our Facebook event page or send a message to openmic@madswirl.com)
Come to appreciate…
(join us LIVE at Barbara’s Pavillion- located at 323 Centre St, Dallas OR watch us on Facebook LIVE))
Come one. Come all. Come to be a part of this collective creative love child we affectionately call… Mad Swirl!
Here’s a sneak-peek at our the remaining 2025 features:
•••••••
The whole Mad Swirl of everything to come keeps on keepin’ on… NOW! Every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year, every decade, every EVERY there is! Wanna join in the mad conversations going on in our Mad Swirl world? Then come by whenever the mood strikes! We’ll be here…
Sharin’,
Johnny O
Chief Editor
MH Clay
Poetry Editor
Tyler Malone
Short Story Editor
Madelyn Olson
Visual Editor