Forever Burning Fire
Life is a forever burning fire— its flames cradle you, a fleeting flicker. Briefly you dance, illuminating the void, before spiraling outward, a luminous arc, into quiet extinguishment. — © Rick Baldwin
fence
a line of lovers, wooden like rotting posts each more weathered and more hollow than the previous until the last one completely broken neglecting what it was meant to hold — © Rick Baldwin
Jack o’Lantern
When she carved the pumpkin, her hand sunk deep into its flesh and, as she scooped the insides, she thought of the murder– how the face went soft, yet wide-eyed, open-mouthed, stringy seeds spilling onto her dress. She twisted the knife in, his body thrusting forward,...
Jackson, 1962
Murder at midnight. Ruby light like a sheet over the Oldsmobile’s steel green skin. Undercover crickets shrill in a foggy field, their screams a jagged static against the black gloaming; tinnitus in the night ear. Haggard men, hoarding hate like rare coins, pause for...
Choices
You never asked to give, nor I to take. These, our branded destinies— seared into us before our first breath. The advantage was mine: wrapped in silken, milky skin, a blur of glowing world, my everything. By your crib, they planted a dagger— your fate fixed to the...
Sandal Dust
You are the fourth nail dull, crooked and corroded piercing the watery heart pushing through the spine splintering the wood injecting the poison like a Golgotha adder dancing on the stone and kicking the crown Your rituals are performed in robes dragging the ground...
I'm Rick Baldwin
a writer and artist whose work spans humor, horror, poetry, essays, and playwriting, often rooted in the textures of Southern life and Appalachian culture—its religion, storytelling, and quirky absurdities—my work moves between the reflective and the unsettling, the comic and the strange.
I am an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator, and the editor of The Leghorn, a humor publication dedicated to sharp, irreverent satire. My creative work also extends into podcasting, where I explore storytelling, culture, and the absurdities in between.
Originally from East Tennessee, I now live on the east side of Atlanta with my wife, where we spend much of our time searching for interesting art and fresh produce.
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