NFN

Humbled and honored to be included in this collection of poets and writers.

The Street Poetz

Transformed
My matter
Into bits
Now I’m a Non-fungible Negro

#Poleaxed
The haters
With this trick
So I’m a damned digital hero

I’m coming to
Your Twitter feed
If you cut me
I won’t bleed

I bring this world
What it needs
I’m Cyber
Johnny Appleseed

By Dericki Johnson

DeRicki Johnson (@derickijohnson) / Twitter
https://www.twitter.com/derickijohnson

DeRicki Johnson (@derickijohnson) • Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/derickijohnson/

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Time too, flies

Cleaning up my files, I found this story I submitted to be published by 101words.com five years ago. In light of the pandemic, it seems almost prophetic…

Billions died from the virus. Billions more died from civilization’s collapse – and attendant disease, starvation, war. Fewer than 100,000,000 people were left on planet earth. Them and a trillion flies.

These flies were different. Big, stinging horseflies had gorged on the dead and grown in numbers and size and deadliness. These flies had teeth. They hunted in swarms, millions strong; eating everything in their path.

Swarms were called “shredders.”

This shredder had descended upon the farm a couple of weeks ago. That is why the man was pulling on his protective hoodie and mask. The cows needed milking.

He hated flies.

—DeRicki Johnson

The Maze

“Don’t let go!”

“Gotcha buddy,” said the black stranger with a silver glint in his lopsided smile. “We gotta work together if we gonna get outa this maze.”

Growing closer, the Minotaur roared.

10 years later, his hand still itched where he’d lasered off the swastika tattoo. The bar was crowded and noisy, but behind him a familiar voice cut through the chaos. “Gotcha, buddy!”

They embraced, grabbing each other’s wrist in Roman-style handshake. Anyone observing might have mistook it for fraternal ritual, but it was the grasp that had pulled him back from that pit’s edge so many years ago.

Superhero Senior Citizens

Here’s a humorous piece about getting old. I really think by isolating and ignoring older generations, younger generations are growing up without the benefit of the wisdom and experience of our “senior citizen superheroes.”
👴🏿
Superhero
Senior citizens
Sitting
On a bench

Decked out
In their costumes
Case they’re needed
In a pinch

They’re past the time
When fighting crime
Was a simple cinch

Flash has got a bad hip
From a running accident
Batman lost his tool belt
Don’t know where his gadgets went

Superman’s forgotten
That sometimes he is Clark Kent
And if you spook The Man Of Steel
You can make him flinch

Old age is a cascade
Of sadly failing parts

Just ask these ailing Supers
As they sit and sigh and fart

-DeRicki

Refugees Of Eden

The sun and moon

And seasons

Our dreams

And all our reasons

Wrapped in sweet epiphany

We refugees of Eden

Thru life’s tribulations

Our Creator to us calls

Urging us to rise again

Every time we fall-

To dance in cosmic harmony

We living – one and all

-DeRicki

Hello darkness, my old friend…

Death

Has been

My running mate

Since my egg first split

I guess She is a friend

Of sorts-

A friendly nemesis

And tho I know Her,

Oh so well,

There are no benefits

The relationship

Is doomed to fail

When we finally kiss…

-DeRicki

(Image artist unknown)

Reality hack, alternative facts

Since when did truths

Become alternative?

Ain’t that a fine

“Howdy ya do”

And what about

The words we speak

Do their meanings

Come in “alternative,” too?

As in “up” is “down”

“In” is “out”

And good old

“Red” is “blue?”

It defeats the purpose

Of language

In which case you

Might not know,

“I’m huntry en I liken peas

A dishes lee dainty sang witch…”

In this

Alternative universe

Our Earth is flat

New thin is fat

And racists never

Lynched a black

If that foolishness ain’t enough

Here’s an interesting fact-

According to Texas school books

Dixie’s slaves were immigrants!

This is not right

Just stop it please

Alternative facts?

There’s no such thing…

(Unlike Bigfoot

Or the girl from “Ring”)

Fiction is fiction

Fact is fact

And never the twain

Shall be the same

If someone tells you

Otherwise-

They’re playing

The “mind f*ck” game…

-DeRicki

Led Zeppelin ~ Over the Hills and Far Away

I am listening-to-StairwayToHeaven-in-a-dark-smoky-room-with-blacklight-posters years old, so naturally found this article fascinating…

Just a Girl Lost 2

One of my favoritebands and one of my favorite songs by them. I found out some interesting facts about the song also.  Robert Plant’s lyrics were inspired by the book The Hobbit!   too cool!

Enjoy!  🙂

@justagirllost2 

• This evolved from the Yardbirds song “White Summer,” an acoustic solo by Jimmy Page. Many of the same riffs and chords are in it. After The Yardbirds broke up, Led Zeppelin continued to play “White Summer” live. >>
• This was one of the few Led Zeppelin songs released as a single in the US. It made it only to #51.
• The music was inspired by Jimmy Page’s Celtic ancestry.
• This began as an instrumental. Robert Plant came up with backing tracks then lyrics.
• Plant’s lyrics were inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien book The Hobbit, and to Tolkein’s 1915 poem of the same name. “Over The Hills And Far Away” describes…

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Meeting Life’s Dark Wife

Death was, and was not, what I expected. The dark flowing robe, the hood shadowing a gleaming skull – it was all there. The eyes were a surprise though. On close inspection, the dark sockets contained galaxies of stars, whirling slowly in the black void. What I didn’t expect was the feminine vibe – not sexy, but motherly.

We stood side by side over my peacefully reposed body, a book held loosely in my dead hand.

“Damn, now I’ll never know how it ends.”

“IT WOULD SEEM, FOR YOU, IT ENDS ON PAGE 178,” said a voice like granite mountains colliding, with the hint of a melodic echo.

“Are you a woman?”

“LIFE IS THE CREATIVE. I AM THE RECEPTIVE. SOME CONSIDER THOSE MALE AND FEMALE FORCES, RESPECTIVELY; BUT AS TO YOUR QUESTION, I HAVE NO ANSWER.”

“Did you have to kill me now? I have so much left to do!”

“I DO NOT KILL. SINCE YOU SEE ME AS FEMALE, THINK OF ME AS A MIDWIFE, ATTENDING YOUR BIRTH INTO THE NEXT PHASE OF YOUR JOURNEY.”

Death chuckled – mighty boulders crushed together at the ocean’s bottom.

“A WRITER ONCE REFERRED TO ME AS LIFE’S DARK WIFE.”

I recognized the words. They were from my poem, “Danse Macabre.”

“IT IS TIME.”

“But…”

“IT IS TIME.”

Death pointed a bony finger to something behind me. I felt a hot dry desert wind at my back. Turning, I saw sands stretching into the distance. A glow on the horizon could have been a setting or rising sun – or perhaps the lights of a city. Interesting.

“What’s out there? Is it heaven, or…the other place?”

“I DO NOT KNOW. I CANNOT KNOW. IT IS ONLY FOR YOU TO DECIDE.”

Death slowly faded away. Alone in the desert, I sighed. Then I began to trudge toward the light.

-DeRicki Johnson

Felix Speaking for Himself

Pay the man, Assaph. He doesn’t seem the sort whose bad side on which you want to be! ;-D

FELIX THE FOX MYSTERIES

As part of Virtual FantasyCon (that awesome event where Murder In Absentia received an unprecedented five awards ;-), we did a blog hunt. Since I ran two blogs, I participated twice – and gave Felix a chance to speak for himself in one.

Of course, the bastard went ahead and started to curse me for making him work. Apparently he’s not big on doing self-promotions without immediate pay.

This post was originally published on Diane Riggins site. I’ll let you read Felix’s words for yourself.

---

Salve omnibus. My name is Spurius Vulpius Felix, sometimes known as Felix the Fox, though almost everybody calls me just Felix. It means Fortune’s Favourite in my language, but I’m afraid I am more like Furtuna’s favourite butt for practical jokes.

Actually, you may know my language as Latin. Years ago I visited your world, quite by accident. I came to a city named Rome…

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