https://horrorsleazetrash.com/2023/05/31/anthony-dirk-ray-34/

(Early 1990’s)

(Originally published by The Rye Whiskey Review)

I prefer my whiskey neat

or with a tiny splash of water

but tonight

I made the wife and myself

an old fashioned each

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it

despite not usually taking whiskey on the rocks

as I sat on the back patio

sipping my drink and toasting a stick

a thunderstorm rolled in

I realized just how good I felt in that moment

numerous lightning bolts flashed in the distance

boisterous bangs of 

resounding raucous thunder followed

bringing to mind memories of my past 

from drug induced years

to the present day

where drams and drams of whiskey are drained

somehow I always seem 

to feel the most alive

when I am killing myself

https://horrorsleazetrash.com/2023/05/04/anthony-dirk-ray-33/

(Originally published by Unlikely Stories)

headed to get groceries and

run errands with my wife

I notice the the gargantuan flag

at Camping World, where they

sell recreational vehicles is at half mast

this flag is the biggest

that I have ever seen

I ask my wife

“what happened, why is that flag at half mast?”

she doesn’t know

she hasn’t heard anything

I haven’t been keeping up

with the news lately myself

we get our groceries and 

on the ride home get to the intersection

of 59 and 90

where roughly thirty flags fly on poles

and none of those are at half mast

then it dawns on me that maybe

nothing at all had happened

maybe the workers at the r.v. place

are just too lazy to lift that

heavy ass goddamn flag

and to justify their said laziness

assume that another mass shooting

will happen soon enough