Love is as much about pain as passion, loss as lust. For the hope of keeping it, lovers sometimes sacrifice all.

Lunch among the dead.

All too often life, death, sickness, and even joy, are roadblocks to our creativity.

You read my wordsAnd you are  disturbed,Because I share my pain,My darkness,My emptiness,And I wonder,Sometimes aloud,If anyone hears me.But I know now that you do,It is reflected in your fear,In your concern,But do not be afraid,I will not hurt myself.I do not wishFor an easy escape from my pain,My anguish,My…

I unpacked a lot today She said As we talked I talked Words Joy Anger Disappointment Betrayal Brother, why weren’t you there for me She died alone Then tears My mother’s death Still fresh An open wound But the tears speak Of more Yet to be confronted Childhood Yet to…

Being retired I know that it’s overBut I still waitFor the callThat would pull me back inBehind the doorsWhere the secrets lieBut I also know thatThe call will never comeI am forgottenAnd I know thatI shall die incompleteNever knowing if I might Have done moreTo save the world ©2022 Kevin…

Today we buriedA friend I never knewI can’t tell you much about himExcept that his son loved himAnd that is enough for meFor if a man diesBut still lives in the loveOf his family and friendsThen while he is lost to the worldHe will forever remainIn the life of all…

It used to beThat getting oldWas getting oldNow being oldIs getting oldBut what the hellI bought the ticketI might as wellStay to see the show ©2021 Kevin Fraleigh

At midnight whence all is stillI sit on my bedsideAnd drink in the quietFor the first time in the dayI am alone with my thoughtsYou and the animals sleepBut I am restless before restingAnd my thoughts will notLet me abandon them so easilyI consider time and spaceMortality and immortalityGod and…

My friend is deadI only knew him for a couple of yearsNot that longNot that wellBut fate brought us togetherI know not whyOr maybe I doLife is a mysteryEnveloped in smoke from a MarlboroAnd washed away by a GuinnessBefore it is fully understoodBefore he was fully understoodNow He lays stillHis…

Is it just me?I never noticedI never sawIt seems likeAt some pointI should have seenShould have appreciatedI was after allNot always a childLoveIntimacyLaughterPassionAll yoursBut I cannot recallEven onceSeeing themAnd I think I mightHave beenA better personIf I hadYou were beautifulThe photosBlack and whiteFaded with ageHidden in a bookAmong your thingsYour…

I got to wear my suit today The black pinstripe from London My black tie And my black boots The ones with silver tips To the memorial service To view Not him Not his body full of Covid But a faux marble box Full of his ashes Flanked by photographs…

Over the years I have struggled to keep this blog apolitical, focused completely on writing, but sometimes events overshadow the best of intentions. Sometimes the horror of life is greater that any horror fiction might imagine. Still processing this. On May 6th, Malette and I found out that a good…

I buried a friend todayBeneath the tall palmAnd hibiscusIn a small shallow graveJust the size of a catHe died suddenlyUnexpectedlyAlways the healthiest of catsIt seemedYet he died in my wife’sLoving armsSo quicklySheICould do nothingAs that which he had beenSo graySo softSo lovingSlipped awayAnd as my wifeOvercome with frantic griefScreamedAnd criedAnd…

Everything I have ever believed had faith in or loved is a lie. The world is a deception the book the words all lies. My smile is a false front my jokes my laughter all lies. The history they taught us the religion they fed us the lies swell around…

Is it too soon to wonder about the post-apocalyptic world our children will inherit? Even when COVID-19 is declared dead, it will not be done with us. The fear it has sewn into the fabric of our daily lives will haunt us through generations yet to be born.

We lay together for an hour, My hand cupping your breast. I move my hand down to touch you, But your arm, wrapped in the sheet Blocks me like a wall, impenetrable. I move my hand to yours and my thoughts Recall the thick headiness of our love And lust…

I’m counting the daysI’m counting the weeksI’m counting the hoursUntil I am free.All of the secretsI’ll leave behindTo fall away like shacklesFrom my troubled mind.There are so many thingsI’ve yet to do and seeThe promise of a good lifeIs waiting for me.Will I  live long enoughTo make it all worthwhileThe…

A few weeks ago a co-worker lost her husband, unexpectedly.  It was an odd and awkward situation. One day she was there and the next she wasn’t.  When I say awkward, I don’t mean that it was just something painful and something bad, which of course it was, or that…

Ray Travis wanted to be a writer, It was his sole ambition, But as things do so often, Life got in the way. Ray Travis was a good writer, Everyone said so, Although few actually read his words, Life got in the way. Ray Travis wore a uniform, Fell in…

When a parent dies, It is not so much for him, Or her, That you cry, But for yourself, Because in their end, You see, Your destiny. ©Copyright 2018 by Kevin Fraleigh

I am a sad song. I am darkness. I am age. I stand at the cusp of the void, waiting. No expectations. No regrets. Only transition. I am a sad song. I have no release. The words, the lyrics, bind me and hold me. I cannot be free of them….

I have achieved the American dream: One wife. One house. Two children. A dead-end soul sucking corporate job. My only legacy will be words. Writing on a deadline.  After more than sixty years on this earth, much of that time spent writing meaningless drivel for others, I am finally writing…

“The priests would have you believe have you believe that life is linear, with no deviations or side trips.  Just birth to death to after-life, that’s it, with an eternity of waiting for whatever comes next.  Personally I don’t think it’s that simple.  I think it’s more like a stone…

Other animals spend their lives living, whereas humans spend their lives creating elaborate rituals in the hope of avoiding death. © Copyright 2015 by Kevin Fraleigh.

It’s an unfortunate truth that even the most well thought out plan is subject to the demands and restrictions of the real world.  A few days ago I thought that all I had left to do was to create my cover art, create a .mobi format file, and submit my…