Short Stories

The Bishop

By Sean Dempsey, 7/15/23 ‘The lives of the benevolent are perhaps the most besieged.’ The Archbishop of Cheshire whispered madly into the darkness as he made his way between foul-smelling passageways and across dirty streets. Hot tears fell from his eyes and he beat his fists against stone walls as he trudged — almost stumbled […]

Poems

Songbirds & Vultures

By Sean Dempsey, 7/15/23 The fact names like Sojourner Truth, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Oskar Schindler, and Harriet Tubman are famous and revered above others indicate their uniqueness in history. They are anomalies! Mankind is rotten and putrid to its core. The Third Reich was no fluke, nor were the conquistadors, […]

Short Stories

The Pastor

By Sean Dempsey, 7/2/23 The Pastor awoke from a violent dream, and realized he could not move! He desperately tried to will his legs out of bed. He begged his arms to raise from where they sat placidly against the bedsheets. His body lay completely motionless; only his head would yield to his control. Panic […]

Poems

Daddy’s Girl

by Sean Dempsey 7/1/23 A father’s care is far from rare,Nor is it soft or warm;But it’s her daddy’s arms a daughter needsTo weather any storm. A father’s kiss is rarely missedBy princess, bug, or child;But though she scorns his failed embrace,He still melts with e’ry smile. A father’s love is sometimes shovedQuite rudely from […]

Short Stories

The Bank

By Sean Dempsey, 7/1/23 The arduous task was done. The property was finally his. It has sapped nearly all John’s energy, but he could now call himself a homeowner. He had a place of his own to plant his flag, to ‘sow his oats’, so to speak. The signatures on the papers were still wet […]

Poems

Man’s Cage

To toil gives man purpose. His eyes glisten with fervor at the thought of work and career. Because he is distracted. Because he is caged. A caged man is unencumbered; he has his walls and his routine to keep him company. To keep him happy. To keep him sane. The hamster, too, is happy. His […]

Current Events Poems

America, 2023

A glorious table of feasting charlatans sit circling a bonfire of feigned justice. The raging fire is stacked high with dangerous literature and is lorded over by Great and Powerful men. But these men who burn books are no longer men; they are brutes. They are monsters. The ecstatic cries from the sickeningly drunk mob, […]

Short Stories

A Crisis of Meaning

by Sean Dempsey, 6/28/23 The damned clock struck 6pm. Again. As it always seemed to do each day with far too few words unwritten—and far too few coherent thoughts on the page. Evelyn was exhausted. Her serene study was tucked away within the corners of her 19th century Victorian home. She had written her last […]