When I'm a ghost, I'll haunt you, but delicately a passing shadow on the page when you're reading on the train, a sigh behind the door when you walk through--a breath all warmth and longing on your neck and when you turn, of course, nobody there. No chains will rattle silence from your sleep, no sobs nor heavy tramp of feet in attic rooms disturb your peaceful afternoons; just finger- tips on frosted glass, a message indecipherable writ by no human hands. Just the soft occasional chill as if someone were watching as you step out of the shower, with water droplets bright upon your cheek or streaming down the river of your spine. And when you bend to towel your dripping legs, the unaccountable brush of ghostly lips curling like mist under the swell of breasts, trailed down along the bone- plate where your ribs meet at your heart --you won't know I was there until you see (much later) on your fragrant naked thigh the pale gray outline of my grasping hand.Read More......
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Haunt
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
I really envy my friends
their feelings of purpose,
their sense of direction
that assurance of impending greatness.
I used to have that, too.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
What I really need
more than anything
is a quiet room I can go to
and close the door.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Awakening
Slowly coming to terms with the idea
that not only will I not accomplish
the great things I always dreamed about
But I probably
was never meant to
anyway.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Reading Early Bukowski
Here's the thing
about Bukowski:
sure,
he is an asshole
,
but you can kind of tell
he wasn't
always
that way
and probably
has
his reasons.
--SS Read More......
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
- Jon Krakauer, Into the Wil
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Poetry News, At Last
My free verse poem, "Haunt," has just been published in ChiZine, the online journal of horror fiction and poetry. You can read it by clicking the link below:
"Haunt" by Scott Standridge on ChiZine
Monday, April 20, 2009
I *Wowed* 'Em!
Review of my reading Saturday night at the Arkansas Times' annual Pub or Perish event.
Well, not "review" so much as a "mention," but I'll take it. More info here at the Sonnet Project, where you can also download audio of the entire reading--if that's your thing. :)
Thanks again to David Koon of the Times for making it all happen, and to all my friends who came out to drink and lend their support--not necessarily in that order. ;)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Poetic Recognition in the Blogosphere
"Whiskey Wisdom, #113" was selected by Charles M. Rowland II as his "Poem of the Week" on Friday, February 20. I can't log in to post a thank-you comment, so I'll do it here: Thanks Charles! It's good to know somebody's reading. :)
Poem of the Week: "Whiskey Wisdom, #113"
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Things I Might Lose This Year
My keys. My wallet.
The money inside.
Or just some spare change.
Articles of clothing:
socks, underwear, a shirt.
Perhaps (inexplicably) a shoe.
A few pounds.
Internet passwords.
The one screw I need
to hold it all together.
The need for that screw.
Friends.
A loved one.
More than one.
My job. My fear
of losing my job.
My conviction that I should
be something I'm not.
My state of not being that thing.
My nerve.
My hesitancy.
Seconds. Minutes.
Hours. Days.
My sense of failure.
My fear of same.
Everything.
Nothing.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
International Review: Undead Vol. 3
Well, in the U.S. it's all about the poetry these days, but today's vanity-googling turned up a very nice review of Undead Volume 3: Flesh Feast from HorrorScope, a horror website based in Australia. The good news is, they LOVE me down under!
Scott Standridge’s ‘If You Believe’ is a chilling tale that may have you blocking up your chimney this Christmas. It begins gruesomely, and gets worse. Ramsey Campbell would appreciate the sense of dread with which the author manages to imbue one of our beloved festive icons.I admit I get a really big thrill from the idea of ANYBODY reading what I wrote and liking it, but that thrill is augmented even more by knowing the person enjoying my writing is on the other side of the world--I feel like I'm really reaching out, I guess.
So thanks to my Australian friends--I love your beer! Read More......
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Sonnet Project--In German!
Holy crap, I've been TRANSLATED! Quick, does anyone know German?
http://www.sonett-archiv.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=155
Mine's a little rusty, and Babelfish and Ubiquity only take me so far...but still, I'm really inordinately pleased with this discovery!
I mean, I'm always tickled beyond all reason when I learn that someone, somewhere is reading my stuff anyway...but to learn that I'm being read in GERMAN? That's above and beyond!
Like I said, I can't make out very much, but it's fairly clear someone's using some of the Sonnet Project entries for translation exercises...which is a use for my poetry that I whole-heartedly approve! I just wish I knew German so I could tell if they're any good or not... ;)
And Sneaky, my translator, if you're reading this--please contact me! You've made my day!
Monday, November 3, 2008
And Yet MORE Poetry News!
Guess who's the Spotlight Poet for November 2008 over at well-respected and awesome poetry site The Hypertexts? That's right--yours truly, baby.
Editor Mike Burch has compiled a wonderful, extensive online poetry journal with a strong bent toward the classic and the formal, and I'm honored to have been noticed by him and invited to submit some of my best work. Not only that, but now I can say I've been anthologized with such poetry giants as Richard Moore, X. J. Kennedy, Rhina P. Espaillat, and Scott's all-time poetry hero Jack Butler! So yeah, I'm pretty pleased and proud about the whole thing.
Check out the lovely write-up poet and editor T. Merrill gave me here, along with no fewer than 12 of my sonnets, some of them newly revised and improved. Let me know what you think!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Remember:
There's nothing you can say that hasn't been said.
However--some things bear repeating.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Poetry News
So I found out over the weekend that one of my sonnets has been accepted for publication in Dreams and Nightmares, a long-running and well-respected sci-fi/fantasy poetry magazine! No word yet on which issue will contain my versification, nor the publication date, but still, I'm well chuffed. More as information becomes available!
In the Pumpkin Patch
Here's me, getting in the spirit of the season this weekend at the Schaefers and Collins Pumpkin Patch in Mayflower, Arkansas:
I question the sincerity of this pumpkin patch.There were funnel cakes, hot dogs, a corn maze (which cost $7 to get lost in, so I did not partake--I can get lost in downtown Little Rock on my own, thanks), and a hay ride to a decidedly picked-over pumpkin patch that looked like it had been re-stocked at least once or twice, of necessity. Still, it was a good time, and nice to get out in the sunshine and select the best pumpkin for spooky portraiture. Also, the ghosts and spider skeletons hanging from the trees on the ride out were fun and gave me some ideas for decorations of my own. Whether I act on them or not is another matter.
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
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