Best Scare Poems
Not for a second think I've left the soup kitchen
and quite frankly, I'm tired of all the B itching.
not from those real poets who know how to write
with pen in hand or fingers on a keyboard in flight.
I'm dealing with a couple of serious family issues.
A very sick granddaughter, and it's giving me the blues
My best friend, my sister's heart is out of whack
I'm just done with AI attacks and counterattack
I haven't abandoned the site, only entering contests
and hoping Artificial Intelligence will soon be laid to rest.
Probably not. I've more important things to do for a while,
so, as Duke Beaufort likes to say... live life with a smile.
I am floating lazily in the ocean, enjoying myself when I suddenly realize…
I am wearing a Band-Aid,
A Band-Aid over a small cut.
Doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo
I suddenly remember that a great white shark can smell a drop of blood
More than a mile away.
Doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo
I also remember that a great white has huge teeth that have serrated edges.
Doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo
“GET ME OUT OF HERE!” I yell at my surprised husband, who
Has walked into the bathroom.
After about three days
I realized that I felt better
And I was terrified
Because that just means
That I have successfully turned up the volume
In my headphones so loud
That I drowned out every last thought I had
When I realize that it is a good day
I wonder how far "good" goes
Because that same day I wake up in the middle of the night
With an anxiety attack
Blood rushing, heart beating
I remembered that I was still alive
And the only reason it was still a good day
Is because I fought it
I remember that I would rather be under water
Struggling and fighting to get back to the surface
Is better than being at the surface on a canoe
Thinking about how I wouldn't care
If it tipped over and I couldn't get back up
I want to tell you this
I want to tell you that the canoe is tipping
I wrote out the text I wanted to send you
And deleted it before I could send it
Like screaming for help
In a soundproof room
Loved The Scare
By lamplight, she at night escapes
into her scary world of books.
There she can hide behind dark drapes
inside a mystery that hooks
and throws her right inside the plot.
Soon, ghastly scenes make her aware
her stable world, to leave, cannot.
She slams book closed- but loved the scare.
Sandra M. Haight
~1st Place~
Contest: Free Verse or Rhyme 8 Lines
Sponsor: Eve Roper
Prompt: Photo #2
Judged: 05/12/2019
The Rocking Chair That Keeps…
Up in the attic, there’s something or someone
that keeps creating an eerie, dreary air:
for the darkness is greedy
as it smothers a world of mystery,
a century of family history,
all boxed and cased
in a crust of rust and dust!
Pictures of Dad as a sprightly lad,
Gran with no wrinkle, just a youthful twinkle
and bits of me bagged and forgotten.
However, it is the empty, rocking chair
that reaches out with a squeeze of….. unease.
Yes, up in the attic, there’s something or someone
that offers, a bite of fright and a dreaded dare:
as pipes snake into secret, cobwebbed lairs
and wooden beams stream like overhead train lines
while the excitement of discovery hides in the past.
But it is the empty, rocking chair
that grips and grabs at my attention
as I sense ‘something’ harbouring its wooden frame.
Oh yes, up in the attic, there’s something or someone
that keeps, nudging and grudging with a gloomed glare:
the room suddenly trembles, my heart holds tight
but it’s only the wind galloping by at night.
Immediately a watery giggle,
gurgles the length of a pipe
increasing my midgets of fidgets.
I turn and an aged mirror offers a face of fear
but I breathe again – for it has only borrowed mine.
Up in the attic, there’s definitely something or someone
that keeps, me uneasy, even queasy, each time I am there:
for the darkness is greedy
as it smothers a world of mystery,
a century of family history,
all boxed and cased
in a crust of rust and dust!
But now…. something far more shocking,
a lone rocking chair that keeps.…rocking!
Ian Souter 2025
They called me diseased.
Mentally ill.
…Is it really that horrifying to “cope” this way?
When is reality it’s no worse than smoking or drinking
With those addictions you can’t see the physical damage inflicted
It’s all internal.
So why is this worse?
Worse than the burning of liquor as it rushes down your throat to contaminate
Your mind and smother unwanted thoughts,
Worse than the melting of your lungs with each drag
From that so loved ciggarette that you just can’t seem to escape
Even though it’s breaking you from the inside out..
So why is this fixation so looked down upon?
I don’t understand!!
Why is this any worse than being an alcoholic or being addicted to drugs?
All these cravings damage you physically!
Is it because the resulting affliction can be seen?
the external wreckage that’s coloured crimson
feared and fearless in his prime,
cracking, crumbling in due time.
accusing, haranguing, his voice
could shake the most cavernous hall,
he respected neither authority
nor rank, no, none at all;
for many swore and stood by him
and his looming shadow on the wall,
he abused, he flaunted his might
and ruled so proud and tall;
whipping up public fear and panic,
stoking the impulse to hate,
he destroyed those he tagged
as the secret enemies of the state
but he could neither scare nor fool
the people all and every time,
exposed at last, he died condemned
for a heinous public crime.
feared and fearless in his prime,
cracking, crumbling in due time!
A centipede found its way into our home
My hairs stood on end for hours on end!
And while we tried learning about it on Google search,
in a dark and damp crevice it made its perch
All the cyber net did was to amplify my fears
It also yielded that our azure electric-blue vermin
was quite hot on the market
Making me wonder how people could fancy
such a nightmarish pet!
For this wasn't just any pest
This had hazardous venom
I fearfully wondered if they had
its antidote serum.
We couldn't just ignore
a pair of painful pincers on the loose
There wasn't way to rope those
like bull horns in a noose.
Here was a venomous predator
complete with stinging apparatus
Its bite portended pain
and complications humongous!
It did appear to have those rumoured hundred segments
but count scaredy me out from counting those myriad ligaments.
This insectivore when we tried then to shoo,
with lightning speed it zig-zagged out of view!
So now it lurks but we can't find it anywhere
and gosh its stingers triple their size in my nightmare!
besides leaving us with a proliferation scare.!
And but timid me thanked God once again
to my great relief how thoughtful of Him indeed
to create venomous creatures that inflict stinging pain
but atleast are unable to zoom in flying at us at flying speed! .
(a flyin scorpion, centipede wud have been far more terrifyin n dangerous eh) .
Normal people scare me
The other day,
I shuffled my way,
down the street,
minding my own business.
As I raised my glance upwards
to the oncoming pedestrian
traffic on the busy sidewalk,
I noticed a young woman (I think)
as she (?) approached me,
I saw her,
navigating her way through
the stream of people crossing
in front of her,
like a salmon,
swimming against the current.
She had purple spiked hair,
sides shaved,
her face,
pierced like a pin cushion,
and, every inch of exposed flesh
was covered in profanity laced ink.
She wore army fatigues,
and a T shirt, with the words
"NORMAL PEOPLE SCARE ME".
emblazoned across her chest!
As her brazen eyes,
searched for reactive glances,
I cast my gaze downwards.
Strange thing was...
no one even seemed shocked by her!
Upside down world!
John Derek Hamilton
Feb 27,2017
It was on one Tuesday arvo shopping at the hardware store,
When I noticed Vicar Prendegast come walking through the door,
He walked up to the counter with a strained look on his face,
I could see that he’s not happy so I let him take my place.
Gerry who’s behind the counter asked the Vicar what was wrong,
The Vicar mentioned that a thousand bats are not where they belong,
They’ve settled in his narthex attic, as well as in his belfry too,
And leaving such a flamin’ mess, so is there something he can do.
Well Gerry looked across at me and asked me what I thought,
But the only answers that I had so quickly came up short,
I mentioned cats and noise or maybe, an evil smelling spray,
But the Vicar said he tried all these to scare the bats away.
An owl or two would do the trick, so I picked up the phone,
And rang up a taxidermist asking if there’s one on loan,
But his response was negative. Where does the Vicar go from here?
To rid his Church from pesky bats who seem to have diarrhoea.
We wracked our brains to find a source and help the Vicar out,
Suggesting that a smoke bomb might be just the thing to rout
the bats, but in frustration, the Vicar quietly spoke,
I filled the Church with acrid smoke, but it’s I who got to choke.
So in a last ditch effort Gerry asked the Vicar on the score,
“Have you talked about this problem with the Parish from next door?
I’m sure you’re not the only one these bats have taken too.
Have you got their Vicar’s number and I’ll ring him up for you”.
When Gerry put the phone down there’s a big smile on his face,
“No worries Vicar” Gerry said, “Theirs took off without a trace”,
And when Gerry added what was done, it made our Vicar wince,
“He baptised all his bloody bats and hasn’t seen ‘em since”.
©2006 Lindsay Laurie
Frank N. Stein began to whine,
He has been accused of awful crime,
Scaring little kids in their bed,
Setting off metal detectors with his head,
He just might need a redesign.
Poetic Halloween Scare
The bowls of damnation, when shall we poets meet again?
In delightful darkness, enchanted evil or pain
Of witches cackling, caldrons boiling and labyrinths
Enter with a scream the haunted hell inhabitants
With scurrying spiders, slithering snakes and shadows
The condemned corpses come out to play in their repose
Horrifying howling wolves, crows and jaded jackals
Lifeless souls unleashed from their timeless serpent shackles
Medieval knights, sorcerers and the guillotine
Demons in disguise undercover of Halloween
Warlocks warring, bitter battles bled within the night
Wording Wizards left in a state of feverous fright
Come morn we devour sweet words to feed our appetite.
13X13
13 lines...13 syllables per line
Happy Poe-tic Halloween...caw caw caw
Oct.20.2017
Halloween Scare
Sponsored by: Russell Sivey
People just don’t understand
Why sometimes I jump in fear
Or why I cry and cower
When a loud noise I hear
People find it amusing
When I start to shiver and cry
They simply have no idea
Or know the reason why…
Fireworks are a horror...
To try to enjoy the display,
I have to cover my ears
And pretend that I’m OK
Loud noises send me screaming
Away to find a safe place
They make my go for cover
As I try to hide my face
I just feel like suffocating
As I relive bomb shelter days
The smell and the sickening sounds...
How I was always in such a daze
Dad would yell at us to hurry
As he’d lift Mama on his back
MS meant she couldn’t walk
Would they survive this attack?
We scrambled down the stairs
The bombs' whistles in our ears
I could hardly take a breath
I was choked by incessant fears
In the dank and smelly shelter
We could do nothing but pray
As we counted all the neighbors
We wondered how long we’d stay
Then came that awful day
The blasts set the campus a flame
Our pine trees were burning up
The men tried that fire to tame
I ran to the bomb shelter
But no family was there in sight
I started to scream and cry
Would my family be alright?
They finally put out the fire
But oh, the devastation
People were dead and dying
In all parts of this nation
Shrapnel came through our closet
And chewed up all our clothes
We were thankful we weren’t there
Or we too would be full of holes
Then on campus they brought a tank
But they’d warn us when they’d start,
That gruesome work of shelling
I saw our lives just fall apart
My friend’s father lost his life
Some saw loved ones blown away
My brother and wife were lucky
But they carry scars to this day
Lebanon is steeped in beauty
But the war has marred me for life
Sometimes memories flood back
And I’m reminded of all the strife
It’s when I hear those loud noises
And I feel the ground start to shake
I feel my life will be over
“Protect me, for heaven’s sake!”
So when July 4th comes along
And you celebrate liberty
Think of the firework display
And what that does to souls like me.
Eileen Manassian Ghali
If 'tis a fright, you so desire
Then I shall give thee words most dire
It's of a group that's filled with ire
Towards the common thrift-shop buyer
For what these shoppers do admire
Is lower cost, and not these higher
Prices that plague the attire
Of this group we deem a liar
Behold, the brand name clothing supplier!
Freezing sweat trickled down my back, soaking me as I fled
It felt like the hounds of hell were catching up to me.
Quivering with terror I raced through the undergrowth
I could feel their breath both scorchingly hot yet icy cold.
All around me grusome things lurked that clutched me
nomentally breaking my stride slowing down my flight.
The graze of a fang sent panic rushing through my body
and I could feel the infection spreading rapidly.
My blood was turning icy cold as the virus took hold
Tufts of fur appearing from my ears and nostrils.
I stumbled onwards making for the druid settlement
It felt like the gates of hell were open pulling me down.
With a last surge I broke through to what? Heaven or hell?
Halloween Scare contest
10/15/2017