FRAGILITY

FRAGILITY Poem written for Body Possession Horror Poetry contest, Micheal Fulkerson, sponsor, 7/22/2025 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Locusts serenade me as I rock, suspended, in the soft embrace of my hammock. The air is lovely and eerie, heavy with the ghost of jasmine. But then—a change, a shudder in the atmosphere, a flicker, a spark, a pulse of light, getting brighter, a fiery arc through the midnight sky. The night unwinds, time unravels, I feel the weight of the cosmos pressing down on me—the jasmine scent becoming bitter on my tongue. A glimmer of light in the shadows rushes by, the surrounding air crackling like static before a storm. It hovers, an alien and menacing silhouette of cosmic energy, calling out to me like a siren. Who is this strange guest, this warning sign, this light that warps my perception of reality? What is this cosmic occurrence but the intersection of wonder and fear? I'm drawn in by the pulse of light. It takes me inside the craft, a metallic womb. The walls shine like gleaming silver. I feel stifled by the thick, antiseptic air inside. From above, an unholy spotlight spills, exposing them—monstrous and captivating figures resembling enormous locusts that have risen from my garden, distorted and enlarged, with eyes that sparkle with hunger. Their glistening sharp appendages promise pain in the precision of their predation. As an audience for my silent cries, they encircle me. Their gaze devours my will; I am paralyzed by the invisible unknown. Time dissolves, and I'm lost in this world, my body possessed. Here horror serves as a constant reminder of the fragility of my existence, and of the thin line between the watcher and the watched.