laughing on the outskirts of darkness
at the perfunctory imitations
of the imperceptible⠀
laughing in the belly of darkness⠀
quelling the acidic tide
of the caustic factory⠀
laughing in the wake of darkness⠀
this cavalier illusion
now drinks its own blood for sustenance
and is not satisfied⠀
reeling from the percussion
of its own breath,
it now threatens no one⠀
laughing on the outskirts of brightness
©2026 Kevin Trent Boswell
From the book Liber ex Liberi
she was like the tiny, little
broken, china teacup
that i would use to dip sugar
from out of the big jar
that i kept in the fridge
she was there,
all covered in sticky sweetness…
chipped, jagged
cold
and poised
to cut the lip
©2026 Kevin Trent Boswell
From the book on the page – poems for artists, writers, and other hooligans
dogs of entropy⠀
coming after me⠀
I will run fast⠀
but will not last⠀
dogs of entropy⠀
ever so closely behind⠀
must not sleep, or be⠀
tomorrow’s grisly find
©2026 Kevin Trent Boswell
From the book Dark Matter – Poems of Horror and Depravity
It’s spooky season, kids. May you be filled with nails. Oops… I meant to say light. Yeah, light. That’s it.
A breath
Oxygen
Realization⠀
An expected guest
An obligation
To mosquito deliverance⠀
Fingernails, arms,
Ankles, wrists
Then toilets, sickness,
Clenched fists⠀
Endings demure
Science will secure⠀
A thoughtful plague
Comes
Vertical
Through the
Spine⠀
Heightened
Awareness
©2026 Kevin Trent Boswell
From the book Dark Matter – Poems of Horror and Depravity
For my friend, Johnny Prince, wherever he may be.
Quest for truth
Uncontrollable spasms
Victims of bad decisions
I have no problem
With the situation
Except that I brought it up at all
I too, fall short at times
At times, on my face⠀
The walls often disappear
But they always come back
Look out for your friends
Or else you’re not
Looking out for yourself
Make excuses for death:
It cannot help itself,
The way it often acts at parties,
After a few drinks⠀
A scallop bleeds
Blue, checkerboard patterns
In the snow banks of Missouri
Fried food is rather popular
Down there;
Great Kings work in small,
Greasy food joints
Where it is proclaimed that
On the eighth day
God created fishnet stockings
And we saw
That they were good
©2026 Kevin Trent Boswell
From the book Next
we project our
hopes and fears
onto people
we don’t
even know
you can find out
that you don’t
really know someone
even after many years
of living with them
and even as you’re
learning
that person,
they’re changing
all the time
and so are you
safety is an illusion
you are not safe
nor am I
what look like
green flags, today
seem bright red,
tomorrow
the thing that, today,
made you recoil,
because you
thought you saw
scarlet
you come,
later on,
to appreciate
as being
a stable,
comforting
emerald green
safety?
thefuckisthat?
I’ve never
been safe
not once
not even when
I was sure
I’d found
safety
you aren’t
safe
not so long
as you’re
dealing with
people
you roll the dice,
like everybody else
the only sensible
approach to
dealing with people
is to assume
that it’s
not going to
work out
but to behave
as if it will
work out
until they give you
some kind of
undeniable reason
to walk away
not some
superficial “ick,”
a childish picayune,
but a genuine
dealbreaker
and if that
never happens,
well then,
lucky you
nice work,
if you can get it
me?
I have
gone completely
into hiding,
many times,
often for years
at a stretch
I crawl out of my cave
only if something
seems particularly
interesting
I stopped looking for
greens and reds
because looking for them
never had any actual
bearing on the outcome
not once
now, I just assume
90% of the women
I encounter
are not going to be
worth the time of day
experience has taught me that
and the remaining 10%?
well, I won’t know
until I find out
the hard way
never learning
from your mistakes
is dumb
but being
too cautious
about the possibility
of making
some mistakes
that you might
learn from
is boring ⠀
and lonely
green and red
aren’t really
the best colors,
anyway
I’m more partial to
black and purple,
blues and grays
you are
not safe
nor am I
Vaya con Dios, amigo
©2026 Kevin Trent Boswell
