I have to cancel the live open mic tonight we can still have it just not live Ive been going through the ashes all day looking for anything salvageable and I'm covered in black from head to toe and exhausted emotionally and physically. I will make plans for open mic next Friday night again my apologies

🍂🌸☀️❄️ for our next anthology in The Art of Poetry Community on Skool! This month’s theme: SEASONS Each participating poet will receive 📸 4 images 🖋️ and will write 4 poems — one inspired by each image. This anthology is about transformation. The seasons outside us. The seasons within us. The winters we survived. The springs we almost gave up on. 💰 Entry Fee: $20.00 📅 All poems must be submitted by June 11th https://cash.app/$artofpoetry2026 https://buy.stripe.com/14A9AS6X97mUasBfR80Jq05 This series has already become something special. Writers from all over the world. Different voices. Different stories. One book filled with moments that refuse to stay silent. If you want to be part of the next anthology, now is the time. Comment below or send me a message to register. 🍁 — Jason Strickland

We will rise from the ashes

Addiction is a beauty Queen that tells you she not wearing panties but at the end of the night, you find her locked in a chastity belt The allure is real The seduction is real The chase and the high are filled with moments of grace Your capacity for intensity is stretched to the ultimate edge Then….. chastity… no completion of the ephemeral desire A Chimera’s shadow on the wall When the spell breaks It seems you are left with nothing….. Shift your stance Peer around the corner Glance sideways into the periphery And you’ll see the edges of your container Have expanded almost past your line of sight Do you pull back into the “safety” of walls you can touch? Or do you know that the vestal virgin of addiction Has become the bestial Mother A river (robe) to meet the flow of expanded capacity A touchstone to give weight and measure and purpose to the shimmering veil of your life Court the devil Be the vessel Shape your heart ~ James Humecky

I live in the world between astounding grace, and complete discombobulation. In a finessing balance… Like sheets trying to push the wind into place…. (a piece in progress, but it kind of hits as it is)