A STAR IS TORN By Michael N. Thompson

Everything’s a ceremony

in the arena of the damned

Beneath the glare and excess,

there’s a sadness knowing

beatitude’s nowhere to be found

Banality breeds the vanity blues

and death cults of personality

Drugstore cowboys

and reverse cowgirls

are automatic cliches 

There are more lives in transit

than a downtown bus station

but everybody takes a ride

on the Catherine Wheel

This is Nathanael west country 

where the sturm und drang of prestige

turns into sugar water

and the air strangles worse

than Ken Bianchi in 1977

Its less a city of angels

and more the gates to hell

The Marquis De Sade

would feel right at home

Michael N. Thompson likes bacon, cats and fantasy football. His poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals including Word Riot, Toronto Quarterly and San Pedro River Review. He is the author of four poetry collections, the most recent being A Murder Of Crows published by University of Hell Press. www.michaelnthompson.com