THREE POEMS

Mom and Dad, Fucking

Never imagined them doing it
Until I walked in on
Them
Drunk and
Fifteen 
After some keg party
Too pie-eyed to remember the 
Horror
But the years sped by
Bullet Train streaks
On wet glass and
The two that spawned me
Faded painfully away
Now I’m old
But not yet slacked jawed
And holding their ashes and
That pile of bills they left
And,
I came to understand
It all starts and ends with
Someone getting
Fucked.

Myth Man

She found a new man
In a new place
Who didn’t write 
Like he wrote
But was more wonderful
Than the man who wrote
And she held in her gaze
Long enough to melt away
His veneer.

And,
When rain came and
Touched his words
They melted 
Leaving a ring stain
Around the drain of
Her bathroom sink,
A residue rank with
Dulcet decay.

Leaving her to wonder
Whether he was real
Or simply
Verbs and nouns
Oddly arranged, 
Rendered in
Invisible Sharpie
Crude scribbles of greedy desire
She’d conjured before the first snow came.

Unfaithful Muse

On those mornings
When my mind is still
THC and bourbon ripe
Numb as a 1980s coke gummer
And that fucking fog hangs 
November gray, damp, and biting
I stare
Dully down at
These blank pages
Sip my coffee
Pop another Zyn 
Sharpen my
Blackwing to a 
Nub
Cursing the false 
Promise of an
Empty notebook…
A blank thirst trap screen
Wondering,
Is my muse out there
Once again
Fucking someone else?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JD Clapp is a writer based in San Diego, CA. His creative work has appeared in over 75 different literary journals and magazines including Cowboy Jamboree, trampset, Blood + Honey, and Bull. His work has been nominated for several awards including the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. He is the author of two short story collections: Poachers and Pills (2025), and A Good Man Goes South (2024). His debut novel, Grit Before Grace, will be published by Cowboy Jamboree Press in fall 2026.

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