Poetry Wheel Challenge:
Theme: Night
Emotion: Angry
Color: Crimson
Season: Festive
Form: Cinquain
Object: Mirror
Verb: Hiss
Created using the PoetrySoup Poetry Wheel.
NIGHT
BLACKNESS, BLINDED
UNKNOWN SOUNDS HEARD
WONDERING ORIGIN PREDATOR
HUNTED
Evils tendrils flow on by
With an unknown energy
Coming to buffet
All we know
Going around
Grinding through
Evil is the energy
Fueled by you
Not seen
Smelled
Or touched
An unknowing nod
When things are lost
Freedom
Fairness
Kind words
The whirlwind swells
When we nod
Or walk away
I looked at my toes in the bathtub
Imagined them curling around a tree
Gave myself a shoulder rub
Thought about primal ancestry.
The dentist removed my canine teeth
They reminded me of the wolf beneath
And when insurance took me off his list
I growled like a cheetah being dissed.
Was I just a wild beast?
Like a chimp finding a feast?
Like a bird singing with a mating goal?
Like an elk at a water hole?
I ran into a hostile guy
Said I had told a lie
Said I was a snake, a skunk
So I got into a funk.
Didn't I have a spirit higher?
Wasn't there creative fire?
Couldn't I get respect
for my curious seeking intellect?
Tell me someone tell me please
that I'm not a monkey in the trees.
Though there's a white oak in my yard
Its fun to climb, and not so hard.
So I'll embrace my inner critter
I won't be angry, won't be bitter
I'll transcend it when I can
And I hope you understand:
why when I try to sing a tune
I sound like a wolf howling at the moon.
.
if'n i cross hern
naykid tantamount
alone
hern
purty
past
twilight
mmph pray
mine
echo'en holl'er
thuh
hern purty pleaze
merth
tap
')
Duel Challange from poetry soup
Prompt
Write a poem inspired by moonlight
Rules
Poem must include the word "moon" or "moonlight"
Won challange :) thanks for voting
Tonight the moon is dazzling
Looking from my garden
Gazing towards the lake
My heart did leap for joy
I began dancing in the moonlight
Majestic ripples in the water
Sent shivers down my spine
Stars twinkled in the horizon
Totally sublime
So, happy to be alive
Moonlight ~ eerie, will vampires be out !
I scream " where are you "
Come get my neck ~ bite me
Am I dreaming ~ or is that a howling wolf
Fixated in the moment of sheer ~ madness
long summer rain
drops and sunlight marry
jackals howl
Unseen
Tears shed often,
Measures the depth of grief,
So profound the ache, it grips you
Within.
Copyright © 2026 by Crystal David John
I looked at my dog and felt nothing but envy.
Gumdrop nose between beaty eyes.
You feel no pain, no sorrow.
You pee on the carpet and get fed from a blue bowl.
Your cousin died and you
did not even know.
Blissful is the world when the power of deep contemplation
does not exist.
A rotten mitt and one tooth hanging on yet
Your tale waggles on.
Sweet potato pie
I am married to the soul
I live in sweet sin
I was afraid love
My spirit changing for you
You hear me howling?
And Lucifer ready to usurp the almighty said: "does this not show that god is simply playing favorites and if it is how soon before we too fall from favor, have we not the will to join them?" Then Lucifer destroyed the almighty god, the plaintive proddings are deathly quiet now, not a flicker of restitution is to be found.
Old Rumple Stein gathered
the trembling children near
the frosted manor windows
as the full moon rose.
"Listen closely to the
snapping of the twigs out in
the dark estate," he whispered
slyly.
A cursed beast with matted
black fur and jagged yellow
fangs wanders these empty
hallways.
Its long, razor- sharp claws
scrape against the bedroom
doors with a terrible SCREEECH.
You will hear its heavy, wet
breathing right outside your
room before the doorknob
slowly turns.
It hunts the moment the sun
goes down, sniffing the air
for your terror.
The creature let's out a blood-
curdling howl that shakes the
very dust from the ceiling.
Golden, glowing eyes peer
through the keyhole,
watching you hide beneath
your thin blankets.
If it catches your scent, its
drooling jaws open wide to
swallow you whole.
"Do not dare to close your
eyes tonight," Rumple
snickered, "for the werewolf is inside."
It’s misty green and blue I bleed from my eyes
And the pale moonlight watches as I tear my shirt
And jeans as I am transitioning from man to wolf
The scent of her clusters of camphire and estrus
Holy smoke and evergreen has got me howling
As the thurible is swung I'm still howling, better run
It’s midnight purple patches that I use to bandage
The wounds after necking with a vampire, in my veins
There’s a fire of passion and I can’t help myself
Ironically, I help myself anyway, to another banquet of kisses
Your porcelain skin, and my engorged eyes filled with skies
This vision let down on a silken sheet, a sight for blood red eyes
Oh the lavender sickness of vervain
And as you wait I have the musty smell of legends
To unfurl, and the crystal ball tells the future and past
Midnight purple patches and misty blue and green
Set the scene combining for this reverie of Aphrodite with arms
More arms than Shiva even Durga to pull at you
Don’t pull me under with you, my life is just beginning
Blackness, please leave me alone, I sleep in silver strands
As sleep demands and the sun is coursing over
I remember the first time I heard Ginsberg's voice,
A thunderous, cosmic howl that shook the air,
Like bebop horns wailing in the midnight noise,
A raw, unfiltered cry that stripped away despair.
His words, a jazz improvisation of the soul,
Breathless, wild, spinning in free flight,
A sacred chant, a rebel's roll,
Inviting us to dance in the neon light.
He was the poet as a bebop cat,
Slinging syllables like saxophone solos,
A spiritual anarchist, a love diplomat,
Breaking chains, defying all the old roles.
In his voice, I heard the universe's roar,
A call to be true, unshackled, free,
A portal to the sacred core,
Where art and life merge in harmony.
Allen Ginsberg, the beat's wild star,
Blazing through the darkness with cosmic fire,
His words, a jazz riff from afar,
Forever echoing, lifting us higher to right now, right here
The taste of blood is on his tongue
A scent carried by the wind
Haunches move to a rhythmic song
A song only he can hear
Beneath the moons dim glow
His eyes have found the prey
His mind is drawn to slender throat
And flesh torn away
He is the horse and rider
A silent Death approaches
Space between the two grow tighter
But only one will notice
The reapers shadow cloaked in fur
A scythe sent to harvest
A single lone but deadly cur
Twisting through the forest
Upon his pounce, the kill is swift
His jaws are locked in place
A final jerk and bones are split
A painting of gore and grace
Now to return, since he's through
With another life he's smothered
A Death to all that he pursues
A savior to his brothers.
Christopher Pitts/2019
Howl Categories
Definition | What is Howl in Poetry?
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.
Related Poetry Forms
moan, growl, groan, yelp, wail, roar, whimper, hoot, outcry, shriek, bellow, clamor, lament, whine, bawl, bay, keen, shout, quest, bark, blubber, yowl, yell, weep, scream, ululate, yip,