Category: Poems

Multiple Viewing Movie

Daily writing prompt
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?
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When I was a child

there were a two highlights

of my tv viewing year.

One was Godzilla week

on channel 11 WPIX

Each year I would wait

and be rewarded with

glorious scenes and sounds

of kaiju

on my little tv screen

destroying Tokyo

battling each other

breathing fire

soaring in the sky

oh it was a wonder

The other was

the yearly showing

of The Wizard of Oz

Even though the flying monkeys

terrified me for the first few years

the spectacle of color and sound

made me white knuckle it

through the fear

For days after

I would think

what would it be like

to be transported

to another land

where ever big moment

had a song and dance routine

and everything was saturated

in brillant color

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Are You Superstitious?

Daily writing prompt
Are you superstitious?
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As a kid

My sister liked Casper

The Friendly Ghost

She didn’t speak

But maybe she saw ghosts

And the thought of a friendly one

Made her happy

To this day

She has never said and never will

If ghosts are friendly

And give comfort to little autistic girls

I’ll be superstitious

Whether I believe or not

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Very Short Record Review – Dug – Have At It!

A jubilant optimistic record that respects its traditional songs while managing to make the modern songs feel very much of 2026. You can sense the band’s dedication to the pursue of joy in the songs.

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Animal I Compare To

Daily writing prompt
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?
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I am a snuffleupagus

Of questionable origin

Maybe not event real

Searched for by many

Found by few

Notable in its absence

Yet still creating presence

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Letter to 100-Year-Old Self

Daily writing prompt
Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.
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Dear 100-Year-Old-Self,

Did the New York Jets ever make the playoffs again?

Did George R.R. Martin ever finish A Song of Ice and Fire?

Did Patrick Rothfuss ever come out with book 3?

Can you still drink coffee at 100?

Did it keep getting hotter and hotter?

How hot is it in the summer?

How hot in the winter?

Do we still fight constant wars?

How are any humans still alive?

Is it only you?

Do humans still laugh?

Did we learn anything at all?

Any fucking thing at all?

Please reply. We have no answers here.

Best Regards,

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Shopping Spree

Daily writing prompt
Where would you go on a shopping spree?
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I would go on a shopping spree at Toys R Us in 1980. When I was a kid I always saw the advertisements for Toys R Us on TV and couldn’t believe that such a place existed. The closest one was far away in North Jersey. How could anyone get there? North Jersey! It might as well have been Oz. It just seemed impossible. Luckily my parents eventually took me in their orange VW fan on a pilgrimage to the holy location of adolescent consumerism a few years later, but it never lived up to my imagination upon first seeing the TV ads. Locally in 2026 I would probably choose the mundane location of Barnes & Noble.

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Cleansing The Temple

The data will not help you

When your house is burning to the ground

Your ROI will not matter

When all the bells and sirens sound

Safety is an illusion

You have been bred to believe

The spider is a capitalist

It’s his webs your labor weaves

Bring Jesus to the temple

Where crypto bros calculate rates

On their latest post engagements

Dealing in grievances and hate

Bring Jesus to the temple

To cast his light upon the scene

Of greed for greeds sake only

Asking all present what any of it means

He will receive no answers

From those fully absent of grace

Men barely acting of their own volition

In a digitally degrading race

They will howl about the blockchain

As he casts them out

Standing in the sun outside the temple

Will be slow moments of dread and doubt

What is to be empty

Standing in the sun

Your mind and body separated from your screens

Existing as one

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Image – Cleansing the Temple – El Greco – 1570

Clay

We are clay

Shaped by war

Even if we have never 

Fought a battle

Or met

Someone who has

The grandfather you

Never knew

Shapes you 

In his absence

Pulsing out the suffering

Seen

Across time

When he killed scores in the sun

Achilles did not know

But

When Patroclus died

He found out

What aristeia was

Simply blood spilling

Slowly pooling in the sand

Unmoving

The bringer of

Neither friendship

Nor grace

Back to him

War is the main character

In all our stories

Even if we never see its name

Written in our tales

Gene G. McLaughlin 2026

Image – Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus – 1760

Labor Day Weekend 2025

There’s a blockade starving Gaza

There’s a glitch on your timeline

Depending on your algorithm 

Everything is either burning or maybe all is fine

I watch the young play college football

As ICE stalks outside where they play

From the seat I’m sitting in

It all seems a world away

6,000 miles from Gaza

800 from the football game

In measuring all the suffering

Maybe all distances are the same

Can you hold on to what you love

Are you part of us or them

What will they allow you to keep

When they calculate the sum

Of what your worth based on the parts

Of acceptable DNA you contain

Of your pigment percents

Of your gender preferences 

Of what you view as sane

Is the cookout winding down

Are there hotdogs left on the grill

Do you have a headache from the day

Should you take a headache pill

You have tomorrow off

Tuesdays coming up soon

You gotta keep on working 

Putting out off your mind what looms

Gene G. McLaughlin 2025

Image – Going and Coming – Norman Rockwell 1974

Prickers

The passing of time

Perforate us with laden moments

Stinging like prickers

Upon the flesh

The eyes of others

Reflect upon us ourselves

Swirling emotion and expectation

Blotting identity on the skin and soul’s canvas

The passages of meaning’s creation

Are forever barbed and confounding

Yet down the shrouded twisting path

Lies joy

Gene G. McLaughlin 2024