Remember when ‘long hair’ and ‘shaved head’ were freaky
What? ~ Did you sail on the Kon-tiki?
Remember when baseball cards cost five cents a pack
There’s a price that’ll never come back
Remember when ‘Kool-Aid’ was a refreshing drink
Advertising made us unable to think
she stands at the podium
smiling that kind of smile
you only learn after
too many mirrors and not enough truth.
every word that leaves her mouth
sounds like a coin dropping in a machine
that’s already broken.
she waves her hand
like she’s swatting away
the stink of her own sentences—
but the air just thickens,
and the room begins to choke.
you can’t actually believe it,
can you, sweetheart?
those polished lies,
those press-release fairy tales
made from the bones of the poor—
you sell them like perfume
and call it patriotism.
I’ve seen hustlers with more honesty
in a bar at closing time,
men bleeding truth into their beers
while she stands there
selling corruption
like it’s the latest fashion
out of D.C. culture.
she talks about freedom
with the leash in her hand,
about honor
with both palms dirty.
and still—
some fools will clap,
because the light hits her just right,
because the lie sounds better
than the life they’re living.
but the rest of us,
the ones down here
with cracked knuckles and rent due,
we know a con when we see one—
and hers reeks
of the White House carpet
and the devil’s perfume.
Frightening...
The night is heavy, thick with dread,
whispers slither through the air,
calling voices long since dead.
Frightening...
A knock—too soft, too slow, too light,
no one should be at your door,
not at this ungodly night.
Frightening...
The mirror shifts, yet you stay still,
a shadow moves that is not yours,
a shape that bends against your will.
Frightening...
The floorboards creak—too close this time,
your breath is caught, your pulse runs wild,
yet silence lingers, stretched and vile.
Frightening...
A whisper brushes past your ear,
a voice you’ve never known before,
softly breathing, I am here.
It's so frightening
Singing in a big audience
In a boxing ring.
The mother could not stop screaming after her daughter was snatched.
Her son ran to their spaceship and locked himself inside the hatch.
Father ran after daughter, and skull creature took them both into the skies.
Frightening Halloween night; as ghoulish weirdos sharpen up their knives.
I have seen masks that give me a fright
But the barn owl masks are truly not right
They turn the warriors into crying babies.
Running away as if we all have rabies.
The barn owl masks are spooky for sure.
They have scared the Trojans and Aztecs pure.
We think this is why the Mayans ran away.
Have you seen them? Asked my frightened Cousin May.
silhouette of winding gnarly trees, a scary sight
outline that bodes familiarity on Halloween night
the frightening path enticing me, stirring my blood.
my pounding heart is a thud, I feel like a faker, a dud.
I always brag that I am afraid of nothing, right?
but here I am, facing this demented terrifying sight.
the clairaudient part of me can hear ghouls and a grim.
I turn and run from the vampires and dragons I feel within.
being an empath can have its own problems, I know.
I could even picture rat snakes way down below.
this path which appeared on Halloween night
does not feel right, does not feel right.
some other children disappeared that night in sixty-two.
I have a feeling they took that path, wouldn’t you?
whisked away to some kind of hell if you ask me.
my psychic eye kept me safe, I was alive in sixty-three.
A storm blew over, brightening
the town with fast, white, lightening.
Their weatherman was wrong
the “clear skies” were gone.
All in all, it was quite frightening.
I am afraid of clowns someone said.
No one laughed.
It was a serious poker game.
Chuckie glared in my direction.
I had not noticed Freddie or Jason yet.
Concentrating so hard on my cards.
When I looked up I tried to bow out.
But I was held in place.
An invisible force controlled me.
A dementor was here!
I was his puppet.
I wished I knew where my invisibility cloak was.
Dracula and the werewolf began salivating.
I knew I was in big trouble now.
The last destiny
A secret place to go
A mysterious journey
And a frightening experience indeed
For finding out any more
And before one go
One must leave behind all the belongings
Money, properties,knowledge and
experiences
Hatred and love
Friends,family and the loved ones
One'll find that one has a lot
But all the time one said
One has a little
One's greed has betrayed oneself
Like one has betrayed one's God
I hope I can drop off
All the burden of knowledge
Before I go one day
I'll drop off all the poems
Which I gained from the earth free
Most frightening of all the fires, is the fire that we call Human
It burns down the whole wide world, and Humanity also not forsaken
This fire that we call Human, is now the greatest creation of that kind
Where flowers never bloom in hearts, and love never gets awoken.
(09.24.2020)
skeleton cartilage
seven gill slits on head
supreme power symbol
stalks prey up to six miles
sense of smell amazing
species are small or large
sudden seashore scary
SECOND PLACE WINNER
written March 10, 2022
especially for "In Search of Prey" poetry contest
sponsored by Joseph May
syllables checked with HMS and PS
Beware the goblins that hang out with gloom,
That send little children screaming in fright
The werewolves that spell a sudden doom.
Sudden noises like mushroom clouds boom
At your front door on Halloween night,
Beware the goblins that hang out with gloom.
Likely the little witches will carry their broom
They yell “Trick or Treat” and run out of sight,
The werewolves that spell a sudden doom.
If you are about, do not accept a mushroom
For they often carry a most wicked bite,
Beware the goblins that hang out with gloom
Switch on the light before entering a room,
Lest an apparition appear in astounding flight
The werewolves that spell a sudden doom.
You’ll be prepared for ghosts, I’ll presume
If, after dark, you turn on your porch light
Beware the goblins that hang out with gloom
The werewolves that spell a sudden doom.
written October 6, 2021
The Mouse
I was going to bed,
after the trip to the med.
But then I saw something,
It looked frightening.
It squealed terrible shrieks,
from what looked Like beaks.
It was small,
with a creepy claw.
It frightened me,
It was so creepy!
But as soon as I ran out of the house,
I found out it was just a mouse.
Do clouds rapidly flee chased by icy gulls?
Is something more horrifying about to happen?
A frightening squall is descending to Earth,
the airways are free of fowls and raptors,
mothers rescue their kids from the captor,
their safety is a ritual since the dawn of Man;
shivering and unprotected is that grizzly bear
climbing the redwood tree for his cubs' mirth!
Sand and soil become a huge cloud,
concealing from burning eyes a revelation
that Nostradamus has brought to our attention,
it's more gruesome than a biblical event;
will flood submerge all in deep water...
as people scream and envoke God to stop Goliath,
reminding Him the promise He made to Noah!
There's no arch insight, no captain aboard,
the murky waters are still rising and frighten;
what went wrong is unjustified human error,
why are we punished by Man, not by God?
They are destroying our joy, our livelihood,
the wilderness of harmonious Shenandoah
and the meadows of daffodils about to sprout!
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