Mad Swirl

06/26/2026

Here's what's swirlin' today in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum...

“Savage” by Contributing Poet Wayne F. Burke

Here's what Poetry Editor MH Clay has to say about today's featured poem: "Rough roots make tough shoots."

To read THIS poem & even MORE mad poetry & prose & peruse some swirlin' art too, please visit MadSwirl.com!

The wind outside is howling like a bunch of wild Indians for my scalp or blood— as a kid I wanted to be Indian not cowboy, a savage with a tomahawk——what was that all about? I was pi**ed, I guess. …

06/25/2026

4I3A6027 by Richard Hanus

To see ALL of Richard's surreally dreamy works of art, as well as our other Resident Artist’s works, visit Richard's page in our Mad Gallery at MadSwirl.com!

madswirl.com/gallery/

06/25/2026

Here's what's swirlin' today in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum...

“Robert Bly Almost Got Me Gulag’d” by Guest Poet Erick Lima

Here's what Poetry Editor MH Clay has to say about today's featured poem: "Co**ie criticism, for the common good."

To read THIS poem & even MORE mad poetry & prose & peruse some swirlin' art too, please visit MadSwirl.com!

Drunk as f**k, flying from Scotland to Japan with a twelve-hour layover in Beijing to save cash. The bus driver asks if I enjoyed my trip and if I’m going home. I tell him “China.” He says, “Too ma…

06/24/2026

Here's what's swirlin' today in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum...

“Driving On” by Contributing Poet Ivan Jenson

Here's what Poetry Editor MH Clay has to say about today's featured poem: "For any, is all enough?"

To read THIS poem & even MORE mad poetry & prose & peruse some swirlin' art too, please visit MadSwirl.com!

Behind the wheel again ballad playing on the radio strapped in for the rest of my life one mile at a time next to others in their moving metal miles of moments each one with their fair or unfair sh…

06/23/2026

Happy Two-fer Tuesday! Here's the SECOND poem swirlin' today in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum...

“The Word for Eat” by Guest Poet Kimberly Gibson-Tran

Here's what Poetry Editor MH Clay has to say this one: "Eat hearty!"

To read THIS poem & even MORE mad poetry & prose & peruse some swirlin' art too, please visit MadSwirl.com!

I was not born to the world that warps the glass of proffered water full of sound without meaning cadence of a jaw thumping air the hunger to understand warm hands around mine light pushed into a b…

06/23/2026

Today's featured read (actually it's called a drabble) "Uniformity" comes to us from Contributing Writer & Poet Ken Poyner.

This take on segregation is too short to tease but Short Story Editor Tyler Malone's comments might be teasing enough: "Everything, everyone, and every moment, will all finally be the same."

Get all 100 words of Ken's drabble at MadSwirl.com!

(photo "Cutting Cookies" by Tyler Malone)

The town would rather not be gray. Citizens have no say in the matter. If they do not like being gray in a gray town, they can move to another town. There are red, blue, orange towns all around. Ad…

06/23/2026

Happy Two-fer Tuesday! Here's the FIRST poem swirlin' today in Mad Swirl's Poetry Forum...

“FACETS OF TIME (45)” by Contributing Poet Christopher Barnes

Here's what Poetry Editor MH Clay has to say about today's featured poem: "Jeweler quenches his kink."

To read THIS poem & even MORE mad poetry & prose & peruse some swirlin' art too, please visit MadSwirl.com!

Needles on Punkie, Dainty mouthparts. Fettered chunks Of turquoise. * Water shrinks in jug.