Radiating Like Sanity perhaps represents a transition in Scott Wozniak’s poetry. In the chapbook poems such as ‘Silence Keeps a Heart Beating’, ‘Reality Check’, ‘Spare Change for Flight’ and especially the title poem, Wozniak reveals a more sensitive, vulnerable side to his kickass, drug-addled persona he projected in his earlier collections Killing Our Saints (Svensk Apache Press, 2017), Crumbling Utopian Pipedream (Moran Press, 2017) and Shooting Gallery Vultures (Alien Buddha Press, 2019).
Sober, Wozniak appears to be coming to terms with his life after addiction and his poetry shows a renewed sense of self and love for his family. He is more hopeful in his art and life, for now.
Sober, Wozniak appears to be coming to terms with his life after addiction and his poetry shows a renewed sense of self and love for his family. He is more hopeful in his art and life, for now.
Here are two poems from the chap:
No Choice
It takes
a bold heart
and healthy dose
of ignorance
to step away
from your lot in life
to obtain dreams
that might not exist.
It’s more dangerous
than most know, and
often highlighted
by low standards.
For some though,
there’s no choice.
it’s more fulfilling
to accept failure
as a minor success
when compared
to living a life
you know
you can’t
accept.
Luminescent Lunatic
One of these days
you’re gonna see me
gasping for air
as a million shards
of orange and yellow light
fight their way through
my fractured chest.
My hands will be interlaced,
clutching the light source-
a tattered, glowing heart.
I will be unaware
of what’s happening
‘cause for years
I’ve held it in
And forgot what it meant
To shine.
I’ve ritualistically
extinguished flames
that burn deep inside of me
for so long now
that the fires have become
foreign objects
that feel fragile
in my calloused hands.
When they break free,
suppressed tears
will roll like pepper spray
down my face.
I will know,
As will you,
That it finally happened;
The cage door
Of the luminescent lunatic
Finally swung open.
I will be out of my mind,
I will be shinning,
exploding beauty
I’d forgotten I’d hid
somewhere inside myself.
On the day
I break free
you will see me
take deep breaths,
swallowing wind
by the mouthful
and hording the breeze
like life depends on it,
and in the end,
the only thing left standing
will be a six-foot diamond
ran through with imperfections
and radiating like insanity.
(posted with the permission of the poet)
Buy the book here:https://analogsubmission.com/chapbooks/radiatinglikescott
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