Collection: Unassigned “A Shattered Cup of Doom”

EVENING DESCENDS

August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“EVENING DESCENDS” is a compressed contemporary lyric / minimalist narrative poem. It feels like a lyric miniature — almost a dream, parable, or fragment of a larger story. The work contains elements of gothic poetry, dream poetry, and romantic poetry with religious symbolism, a sense of parable/fable, and surrealism. It also has a strong song lyric quality. The short lines, repetition of sounds, and compact narrative make it feel as though it could be a verse from a dark folk song or ballad. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“EVENING DESCENDS”

evening descends
and midnight moonlight
burns again
an old man
blows away the dust
and from the holy books,
he reads
and the woman so fair
her blue eyes
and golden hair
in a perfect act of trust
kisses him, turns in,
and falls asleep

Copyright © 2026 Robert Myrnyj | All rights reserved.
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NONETHELESS

August 23, 2026August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“NONETHELESS” is a contemporary satirical lyric and philosophical song-poem that contains interesting irreverence and wordplay. It is formally organized, having a strong song/ballad architecture. Its central concern explores the contradiction between hope and disappointment, faith and hypocrisy, generosity and deprivation, appearance and reality. The poem repeatedly asks us to consider things that appear to promise one thing but deliver another. Despite hypocrisy, disappointment, deception, and suffering, something persists—morning comes, daylight appears, life continues, and the speaker refuses to completely surrender to the logic of despair. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“NONETHELESS”

how strange the pages, mirth and woe
the tragic comic book that reads
about a caped crusader, lo
who prays cash money for his deeds
the cruel world keeps its promise not
the more you need, the less you get
and when the noonday sun burns hot
they say you ain’t seen nothing yet

sometimes
our times
and presence
is fleeting
the season ends
without warning
and whatsoever
the reason being
that my friend
is anybody’s guess
but it is written
a foggy morning
brings us daylight
nonetheless

how strange the scriptures, is it so
what magic holy book yet reads
about a priest all draped in robes
that cover up the darkest deeds

the cruel world keeps its promise not
the more you need, the less you get
and when you gave more than you got
they say you ain’t seen nothing yet

sometimes
our lies
are lessons
misleading
and reason bends
without warning
but whatsoever
the treason being
that my friend
is anybody’s guess
but it is written
a bright blue morning
brings us shadows
nonetheless

how strange the stranger from up north
who bears the gifts while heading south
and more estranged, this lonesome ranger
who looks the gift horse in the mouth

the cruel world keeps its promise not
the more you need, the less you get
and when i reject this barren lot
they say you ain’t seen nothing yet

XANDRA

August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“Xandra” is a quiet, lyrical, romantic, and deliberately repetitive work. It reads almost like a song lyric, and its repetition gives it the feeling of a memory being replayed. The poem depicts a woman lying in bed during a January morning, moving from sleep and dreaming into wakefulness and remembrance. The speaker then reveals that he had failed to recognize that Xandra loved him. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“XANDRA”

the cold of january
waits outside
she’s under
blankets piled high
she lies
asleep in bed
in warmth
and dreaming

morning window sunshine
curtains wide
the wonder
pries into her eyes
she lies
awake in bed
in love
and dreaming

dreaming

i never gave a second thought to xandra
how ever could a man be so blind
that she might love me so
had never crossed my mind
i never gave a second thought to xandra

she sighs and stares into the
golden light
remembering
the evening
she sighs
awake in bed
rewinds
and dreaming

dreaming

i never gave a second thought to xandra
a treasure worth forevermore to find
that she might love me so
had never crossed my mind
i never gave a second thought to xandra

REVERENDMOTHERFORKLIFT

August 23, 2026August 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“ReverendMotherForklift” reads as a contemporary experimental poem that combines surrealism, religious grotesque, confessional poetry, and dark/gothic imagery. Its form and diction are deliberately fractured, producing something closer to a fever dream, incantation, or liturgical curse than a conventional narrative poem. The poem appears to dramatize the wrestling of religion, inheritance, guilt, motherhood, abandonment, and spiritual contamination. Rather than presenting a straightforward story, it builds an atmosphere of psychological and theological disorientation through rapid collisions of words and images. It is part of the narration character’s backstory in the “An Empty Cup of Doom” novella.

“REVERENDMOTHERFORKLIFT”

roman candle water torture
irish queer bait spirit quest
protestation confirmation
beleaguered berated blessed
another yet drew me to this
blasphemy beset my best
unable precana fable
scattered sunset in the west

whore of whores and house of harlots
hand grenades and heretics
ministry of motherfucking
sons of bitches witches tits
bible through a mirror blindly
make what of you want of it
mammon holy war and pant suits
that which soothes the widow’s wish

in the hills, a midnight altar
tea leaves, runes, and amulets
she laid the baby on the stone
and shriveled back in deep regret
a mother’s tears, a widows peak
fatherless untethered mess
the atom hearted prophetess
grants my weary soul no rest

so count the cost, inheritance
left to my designs, bereft
unclean bats feast on my prayers
demons dance and repossess
far off into the darkness blind
drifting windless unto death
and in the ditches and the bogs
glowing eyes that steal my breath

THUNDERSTRUCKEN

May 24, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“THUNDERSTRUCKEN” is a raw, emotionally charged confessional poem that blends self-deprecating humor, romantic collapse, and storm imagery into a voice-driven modern lament. The tone shifts fluidly between frantic regret, bitterness, vulnerability, and aching loneliness, creating the sense of a speaker unraveling in real time after a failed emotional confession or fractured relationship. One of the poem’s greatest strengths is its highly distinctive voice: conversational, profane, wounded, and darkly funny all at once. The imagery reveals both theatricality and genuine emotional exposure, giving the speaker an almost tragicomic dimension. The ending is especially strong, closing on quiet cinematic loneliness, transforming personal humiliation into a memorable tableau of abandonment and yearning. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“THUNDERSTRUCKEN”

lookit there,
it’s hope
i got it
strung up on a rope
i am a dope
a smitten fool
a thunderstrucken
fuckin’ ghoul
why not just let
well-enough alone
i had to stand up
on a wooden box and
commit my heart-felt
words to stone
i saw her frown
i’m such a clown
i let us down
i let us down
the thunder’s truckin’
through the skies
with teardrops
of a zillion eyes
that wash off
all uncertainty
romantic
hopeless clumsy
prematurity
what in hell’s
become of me
pain too great
time too long
now something sweet
and right and strong
has soured to weak
and woefully wrong
and i wait alone
in the light of the street
the moth it flutters
the cricket sings
by a public phone
that never rings

MISGIVEN

May 23, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“Misgiven” is classified generally as Dark Gothic and Romance poetry, a mythic love curse and gothic duet. Two damned figures are locked in a sulfurous circle. The strength is the compression, how for example, “one misgiven kiss” dooms them both. The imagery is fierce, original, and unapologetically baroque. The poem suggests a mythic dimension to a particular woman’s relationships that transcends naturalism. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“MISGIVEN”

a warhorse storm
of hades, she,
and i, condemned
to her by fate
she drifted in
to shoot the moon
and feed on souls
of low estate

a nightmare on
her blinds, i was
and she, condemned
to me, the same
i, the rage of
brimstone blazing,
who grabbed the midnight
by the mane

a night mare gallop
reigns in hell
our sulfur circle
wishing well
the curse of
one misgiven kiss
and all roads lead
us both to this

TEARDROPS TWO

May 16, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“TEARDROPS TWO” is best categorized as a lyrical contemporary poem blending romantic elegy, dream pop surrealism, and refrain-based confessional verse with strong musical and song-like qualities. Its language is simple yet emotionally charged, creating an atmosphere that feels intimate, wistful, and electrically surreal at once. The alternating dedications establish a mirrored structure that reinforces themes of reciprocity, separation, identity, and emotional exchange. The repetition functions musically rather than redundantly, producing a soft rhythmic pulse that resembles a melancholic ballad or synth-pop lyric. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“TEARDROPS TWO”

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for me,
reborn and renewed
the one you inspired
to rise from the gloom
this one is for me,
and the other for you

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for you,
the supercharge queen
the one with too many
to choose, in between
this one is for you,
and the other for me

teardrops, two,
in a bottle on the sand
once upon a time
i held the lightning in my hand

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for me,
the one tried and true
the one who constructed
a folklore undue
this one is for me,
and the other for you

teardrops, two,
electric blue
one is for you,
the one i set free
the one with those eyes,
yet too blind to see
this one is for you,
and the other for me

teardrops, two
in a bottle on the bay
once upon a tide
i watch the lightning drift away

STRATUM

May 16, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“STRATUM” is best categorized as a gothic narrative poem blending dark fantasy, supernatural horror, and military gothic within a modernized ballad structure. Its strongest achievement is the sustained atmosphere of mythic dread, created through vivid, cinematic imagery and tightly controlled tonal consistency. The poem evokes the cadence of an old oral legend while presenting a layered descent through grave, earth, tomb, and hidden relic that mirrors the title’s geological symbolism. Particularly effective are the concrete visual details, which give the work a tactile, haunting immediacy. The restrained approach to exposition strengthens the mystery, allowing the poem to suggest an entire hidden mythology without over-explaining it. The piece succeeds as a dark, atmospheric ballad of buried violence, dormant power, and memory entombed beneath history. As a newly written poem for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“STRATUM”

drawn with casket from his grave
an old ghost soldier bold and brave
with cold steel eyes that never slept
for many years in vigil kept

into the starry skies he stares
calm and cool the midnight air
and buried last in silver chains
that hobble so his last remains

for one day he was called to life
he howled and drew a kabar knife
and joined in spirit to his flesh
in hot pursuit of sin and death

but now he’s flat upon his back
and bound this day to not attack
and whatever next the orders be
he waits prepared when he’s set free

and there beside the coffin door
a shovel stabs the garden floor
the moonlit shadow that it casts
extends far off into the past

and in the hollow of the dirt
six foot into mother earth
an old man cussing pains out loud
and wiping sweat off from his brow

the old man sweeps away with broom
by torchlight cast into the tomb
a stratum tier of fieldstone rocks
that hides from sight an old black box

THE MOONLIGHT CRIES

August 23, 2026May 10, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

“The Moonlight Cries” is a lyric narrative blending confessional poetry with ballad-like repetition and elegiac tone. Its central theme is the burden of bearing another’s trauma and painful secrets. The voice is a first-person listener and confidant, someone to whom the moonlight has “sworn” her secrets. The speaker oscillates between tender witness, helpless chronicler, and mourner. Structurally, the poem shifts between rhythmic quatrains and shorter refrain lines. The repetition creates an incantatory effect. The final stanza introduces unresolved mystery, suggesting that some wounds resist articulation, even by the one who lived them. The imagery grounds the ethereal pain in physical, almost noir detail. This poem was written for the novella “A Shattered Cup of Doom,” and being newly produced, it has not yet been assigned to a chapbook.

“THE MOONLIGHT CRIES”

IX.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
i guess to test, but nonetheless
i hear her
and getting something off her chest
a haze of menthol cigarettes
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that september,
about a day she can’t remember
how once upon a time, forever
the mothers arms, the soul surrender

what, by god, in moonlight shown
passed away from all she’d known
abandoned, set adrift, alone
what, by god, in moonlight shown

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a child estranged
the darkness of that day remains
what wind aloft might drive the rains
even she, herself can’t say

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
i give my best and nothing less
i hear her
her heartbeat staggers in her chest
a shimmery star amulet
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that october,
a horrid tale she’s not yet over
how once a stranger got to know her
a raving stranger got to know her

and what, by god, might a heart do
iron fisted, torn, abused
overdriven, insane, bruised
what, by god, might a heart do

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a maid insane
the darkness of that night remains
how many tears might lift the stain
even she, herself can’t say

XI.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
she draws the curtain to confess
i hear her
pandora opens up her chest
that they might leave her heart to rest
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that november,
how the savage ravage rendered
her with child of her offender
with the child of her offender

at night the scorpion, it stings
nine months more, she bore these things
beloved baby unbelonging
and the cuck who cut her strings

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a child estranged
the darkness of those days remains
how deep the cauldron of her bane
even she, herself can’t say

XII.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
and dumps her mess with no regrets
i hear her
she lays a hand upon her chest
and by these truths she does attest
i hear her

the moonlight told me,
that december,
the fire smoldered down to ember
since her man demand she sever
the bastard child bond forever

a baby born, a babe like she,
a baby born and then set free
what kind of hell behind her be
why did, that night, her hand touch me

i know because she told me so
the numbers, names, her every tear
i could write a book about
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight stares into my eyes
and darkness dominates the skies
so what awaits beyond today
even she, herself can’t say

III.

the moonlight swore me to her secrets
and shackled to this dark request
i hear her
spinning gold, a treasure chest
of circumstantial evidence
i hear her

and so she told me, and so she lied
she told me she told him goodbye
i saw what i saw, but still she denies
and so told me, and so she lied

what, by god, is wrung from right
how many tears to blur the sight
the fates pin stars upon the night
distant so, can’t taste the light

and even though she told me so
she has lost my trust, i fear
i keep her basted in my doubt
the things she wanted me to hear

the moonlight cries, a witch ordained
she roams the darkest depths, unchained
what good a man, de-balled, de-brained
even she, herself can’t say

TIME AND TIME AGAIN

May 11, 2026May 10, 2026 by Robert Myrnyj

This poem is a lyric poem, with strong elements of confessional and gothic poetry. Its central theme is the cyclical nature of suffering and redemption—specifically, the journey from suicidal despair and imprisonment toward spiritual rescue through love. The voice is a first-person speaker, who oscillates between raw anguish and hard-won salvation. Structurally, the poem uses stark rhyme, repetition, and fragmented imagery to mimic obsessive thought and emotional relapse. A new work, “Time And Time Again” is not yet assigned to a chapbook.

“TIME AND TIME AGAIN”

the darkest night of all my days
mousetrap house rat in a maze
some angel shoulder old crow sings
one-eye jack go suicide king

the knight is still without the moon
lately death can’t come too soon
an ounce of cure, a pound of rock
beat the dead horse, beat the clock

marking time and time again
i’m living hell and back again
again and again
and again
again

the prison gate reverberates
scared straight date where fate awaits
lightning striking, hallowed hall
shadow creeping up the wall

she sat beside me on death row
her eyes a blue electric glow
my heart plugged into supercharge
the second hand remains at large

travel time and time again
i’m back from living hell again
again and again
and again
again

she stood to rise and took my arm
and led my spirit clear of harm
due time done did doing time
a simple love, a simple rhyme

energized amazed enthralled
her picture nailed onto the wall
the undeath of the valley stir
every time i think of her