It’s 25° C clear
but she’s gone.
The outlines of her shadow, hoping
that they’ll have a chance of putting them into use
in the fashion world.
She wears a black, backless dress
with a plunging front.
The soft contours of her breasts are revealed
through the mirrors on the walls.
On the front page a gazette
her cat walk
rushing down to the battle.
Here, you’re making the neighbours squirm.
Here, you’re making their claymores shriek their hatred.
That’s why your body sags against the bar in fatigue.
You’re trying to remember your voice.
Remember, your phone rings again.
It’s a voice you’ve heard,
that incandescent panic spread through the hall.
They’re marrying her.
They’re scarifying her for their day’s events.
You’ve made me interested in how she’s thinking
& you can’t control this with your beard.
Your gaffe is all there.
You gaze with gratitude.
In the old city of St. John's,
in the older neighborhoods,
there are haunted houses...
residences with revenants...
apartments with apparitions...
even schools with spectres;
and there is one edifice with an eidolon
that I know well:
a softhearted shadow
very benevolent,
not at all maleficent.
It is supposedly the ghost of a child
who passed many years before;
a tale from days of yore
not well-known in local folklore.
This ghost is known to close
latches, doors and windows,
as if the occupants are being told
"Please keep out the damp and cold!" -
a phenomenon inexplicable
by a force completely invisible.
Some years ago, I observed this first-hand
and I'm sure I did not fully understand,
but I quickly deduced that it would be most
polite to say "Thank you" to the ghost -
a sudden burst of intuition
to please and placate this amiable apparition!
Every night
I sat up waiting
and waiting
for you to
sweep me up
from off my feet
instead you
would always
vanish away
into the shadows
from which you came from
without a trace
never leaving behind
your footprints
or a letter written to me
telling me
that you were here
When I first saw you, you were standing
beautifully in a river of moonlight.
You had appeared as if from out of nowhere.
Lonesome you seemed in the black of night.
But you were different, dressed all in white
and I was someone longing for a view -
the view of someone who’d be there for me
if it chanced to be I needed you,
I looked at you as if you were an angel -
an otherworldly creature you seemed to be.
You glanced at me with eyes that brightly shone.
Were you an angel sent to rescue me?
Could you dispel the gloom I often felt?
Could you lift me higher from my mortal plane?
How I longed for someone like an angel
to take away from me what was mundane.
I looked again and you had disappeared.
Had it all been my imagination?
Was I going crazy? Had you been
only a lovely hallucination?
Still I search for you and some redemption
when I stand beneath a moon that’s glowing.
And how I dream you’ll come again to me
with your angelic face so brightly showing!
April 5, 2023 for Sotto Poet's Free Submission Poetry Contest
hallucinations
vague personifications ~
hallows dark dancing
The Absent Apparition
Weeping at the window panes, screaming through the locks
Banging upon the ship’s hull, scratching on the docks
Pounding on the headboard, rapping on the glass
Sneaking up to scare the girls, as they run to class
Noone sees his image, as he’s quick to hide away
Leaving to your imagination, what you’re gonna say
Teacher’s they don’t fear him, children stay a fright
If you just ignore him, he’ll come to you at night
Run ye little child hide beneath the bed, don’t make a sound or you’ll be found
Then he’ll have your head
10/12/2021
Written for Something Spooky 8 to 16 Lines Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Tania Kitchin
Forecast of a Dream
David J Walker
It was only an apparition from a
Familiar haunting dream
One that is losing its power
To scare me
concerning the future whose
forecast changes like
the weather
One that fills me with angst
for trivial sins of the past
but at least and
at long last
I am dreaming again
With new daily sin to
atone for
Was it a ghost or some apparition?
Jesus was there but in what condition.
“Now please if you would,
just give me some food.”
He ate some fish relieving suspicion.
“Why are you fearful can you not see?
I'm risen again it really is me.
To make you anew
my peace be with you.”
From texts he taught how this had come to be.
Luke 24.36-48
1.
You're obscured by maze hedges, I'm approaching
Creeping around greenery's edges, encroaching
2.
You'll know when adventure's uncovered, I'm here
Meet where destiny weds us, fate encroaching
3.
Absorb how I've worked for you, take it on board
Finally, place for tender touch encroaching
4.
No shears were used, I went the long way to find
Ideal man, no sad pretender encroaching
5.
Exposed to your will, what's your instant gut choice?
Tenacity steel together encroaching
6.
Hand held up to block the sun, or is it me?
Heel turn scrunch on path, terror encroaching
7.
Disregard jiggles Sigrid's heart, weighted down
Alone shrub omen, surrendour encroaching
30th August 2020
Written for Contest : Ghazal
Sponsor: Silent One
11 syllables
In another day we grew up
me the forced ego
me the unchosen one
me the vagabond
and you
you, with your brown hair
you, with your purity
you, walking with a glad walk
you, swaying and smiling
having a glad smile.
you, with a triumphant air
with no hostility
I never knew you so well
as I do today
I run to you.
you open your arms
and then you dissolve
the room is disordered
I am distraught
me, reaching
me, not knowing
me, wanting more
and ever incomplete
in this moment
And then the ground
that was never trod
the dust that was unlayered
it all fell away.
I dreamed of you last night
I will be searching for you
the rest of my life
there were no barriers then
there will be none now
Between the mountains
Virgin Mary Mother of Jesus
Appeared to six
Faithful in Mejugorje
and a little child shall lead them
in this case
six of them
prayer conversion, fasting,
penance, peace
all the things that could right the world
bringing Catholics to a stronger faith
but not for only Catholics, for all believers
Catholic pilgrimage
Inspired by six little children
“and the little children shall lead us”
makes sense in Mejugorje
The sun is spinning
rapidly changing colors
hearts and crosses appear
to the faithful
Blessed Virgin Mother
appears to the believers
Who continue to pray
as God has taught with the heart of a believer
i hear you in the silence of darkness as memories awaken
December 25, 2019
It comes to us all and it’s now come to me
That I wake in the night cos I’m needing a pee
I shan't wake the wife in the dead of the night
So I creep from the room by the meagre moonlight
Quietly, as I close my bathroom door
I tug the light’s chord and now I see more
Jesus, I squeal as I get quite a fright
There in the window, a hideous sight
The thing peering in is a wizened old prune
I try to recall if tonight’s a full moon
I find myself seeking a Hollywood mist
For nothing that awful could ever exist
Eyes that are bloodshot peer deep into mine
With teeth that are ragged, preparing to dine?
My racing heart slows as all becomes clearer
That’s no bathroom window, it’s only a mirror!
24 June 2019
For Aging Contest
Sponsor: Emily Pinet
Stone cold sober
I was one day
When a lady
Stood in my way
She smiled at me
Like something weird
Then just like that
She disappeared!
Was she a ghost
Or a lost soul?
Or some actress
Playing a role?
Like an omen
Of things to come
She blocked my way
But left me dumb
Those who vanish
By day or night
Cause confusion
What's wrong or right?
Lord have mercy
On "Second-sight"
Pop-up spirits
Cause quite a fright!
MORNING APPARITION
midnight
moonlight
sunlight
rewrite
*
* * *
*
*
smooth pen, under midnight moonlight, breathes.
dust diaspora in sunlight — rewrite seethes.
1/24/2018
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