The doctor smiled,
holding up the
ultrasound of my
healthy, growing
baby.
My relief shattered
when the screen
showed it whispering
inside my womb.
It told me the exact
date and hour it
planned to consume
me.
Tonight, the labor
pains began three
months ahead of
schedule.
I can feel multiple
tiny, razor-sharp
teeth biting their
their way out.
In twilight halls, I wander, lost amidst the masquerade,
A lone soul unmasked, amidst a sea of painted shades.
They don their facades, a suffocating uniformity,
While I, a chameleon, harbor multitudes, a chaotic symphony.
My essence shifts, a mercurial tide,
Humble servant, raging beast, side by side.
Through labyrinthine corridors, I weave and stray,
A stranger in each room, yet belonging nowhere, lost in gray.
Then, I beheld her – a fleeting glimpse of truth,
A visage unadorned, a moment's vulnerable youth.
My heart, a traitor, whispered sweet deceit,
"This is the one, the soulmate, the key to my crumbling seat."
But hers was a beauty, veiled, invisible to the eye,
A masterpiece of malice, hidden beneath a saintly guise.
She struck, a viper's kiss, a whispered promise of despair,
And I, a willing captive, still believed in love's sweet air.
The arrow's fiery tip, a burning, searing pain,
I smiled, a final taunt, as darkness closed, a suffocating rain.
In death's threshold, I saw her, transfigured, revealed,
The angel of my demise, Masked Malice, my heart's fatal yield.
I'm in a room where everyone is pouting on a Mask but I don't fit in because I'm not covering myself with one so everyone hates me for being real what they don't know is that the are too many different spirits in me. A personalty is constantly shifting. I'm the most Hamble but acts differently the next minute. As I move round, in and out of different rooms with each having masked faces i stumbled across one with out a Mask and I thought I found the one a soul mate just didn't know she was my cell mate she wore a the most perfect mask that you can't see with your naked eyes she was the Masked malice by the time I found out it was to late cos she had already stabed me in the back the moment I turned she had a bow with an arrow on fire pointing straight to my heart . It's funny cos I still thought she was playing even after the stabe in the back I still felt her now she has an arrow pointing at my heart but I smile and made the wrong move that is when the arrow pissed through the heart. At the moment of death i saw that angel I feel in love with but that was just a glimpse with the eye of death i saw through her and realised it was just Masked malice that I feel into
People say the oddest things
not realizing their faux pas
Given the chance to self correct
they usually fail miserably
Is it malice or stupidity
~ unlikely we'll ever know
AP: 3rd place 2025
If ever there was a time
To be thrown into a pit of sublime
I would be on my way
But i can't, not today
I would rather think of malice and be unkind
Who knew you were an ammunition,
A camouflage with a malice!
I'm still numb from the revelation
No matter how much I try
I'm afraid that I might risk walking the path
that killed all my dreams I'd reinforced spellbound by your lies!
I'm locked in your cellar
For the crime of conviction
In the castle you built
And called our home!
There's a door on your side
I know l'd never dare to knock
The door wrapped in Bougainvillea
Hiding behind them
The thorns of your sweet excuses!
I know I must avert
And disappear into the fog,
Hoping you'd then realise what a loss feels like!
But, my limbs are paralysed by the venom of trust
That sluggishly ran through my blood
Tormenting me all these years !
Now,
All I need is an escape
Is that too much to ask for?
There was a shyster from Dallas
whose lies were full of malice.
He groped the wrong girl
whose anger unfurled.
So now, they call him Alice.
La Fée Verte, Mistress of Wormwood,
High Consort of la Belle Époque,
Shimmering with joie de vivre.
She’s holding court with bohemian charm,
All haute couture with feathers and furs,
Promising what fools believe.
One spends the night with mademoiselle
In bondage to her whims and mercies,
Content to be softly chained,
Then wakes up nude in the Paris Commune,
A subject of interest in the Dreyfus Affair,
Wishing one had just abstained.
Time for Holy Communion and chalice
Not one for Methuselah-old malice;
You ought to have dumped it at church entrance
To sought redemption give the fullest chance;
Holy Communion with spiritual police
Watches the terribly upset Alice,
Who is right now doing an asked Lord’s Dance
With a rock of a heart and concealed lance.
We all can guess your lame consolation,
Times without number man’s desolation:
“Cord God’s superabundant mercies
He makes sure He applies to all cases.”
This is nearing the chalice with malice
By one sure malice can withstand chalice.
I felt his weight on top of me;
I tried to move and wriggle free.
He had me pinned I couldn’t breathe,
Too weak, I couldn’t help but seethe.
His face I could not see because
His hands pressed on my eyes like paws.
All I perceived was his dark form
As he his evil deed perform.
Hot tears welled up, flowed down my cheeks
In long and crooked violent streaks
But still this savage beast from Hell
No soft entreaties can repel.
And so I silently gave up,
And yield as he with malice sup;
My head was filled with muffled scream,
I prayed that all was but a dream.
March 20, 2023
Among 3rd Place
Pick-a-Title, Vol 35 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Edward Ibeh
I'm scared to sleep, 'cause I'll slowly creep
Deeper & deeper into a frightening world
Where Alice is Malice & Wonderland is Underland
Where your nightmares come disgustingly alive
They'll claw your skin & tangle your hair
They'll scream & chase - they'll push & race
Just to have a reason to be in your face
The disgrace you'll feel, when it becomes real
A sizzling slap in your head
The whiff of a fiery dragon's breath
There's no more solace you have left
Driftin' & dancin' - Honeymoon romancin'
A reflection of what you want to complete
A ghostly white face in the sheets
All the lights are on, but I still fall asleep
Falling, crashing, & tumbling down underneath
Understand you're falling & twisting to Underland
Petty-ness, politics, posh & peculier to me
A little girl thrashed in bloody sheets
Chasing a Cheshire Cat through the tangled trees
See the owl in swift silent flight,
Surfing the darkness of the night,
In control of its black domain,
Its prey killed quick, no time for pain.
Don’t be outraged when its victim dies;
The owl’s not a mugger of the skies,
No malice shown when it hunts for meat,
It leaves alone what it cannot eat!
A subpoena
I send to you Sabine
To the Court of Birds
that see no frowns of malice
nor recognise the curl of the lip
The defence that must fall
from your patched Tongue
skewered and faltering
will no doubt wilt
in the Misery of that injustice
where you glance and
Judgment be made
Cursed is your nature
Your drowsy lids poisoning
the Strangers that grace lowly beings
Your kohl sinks your eyes
into the putrid swamps
that belongs your soul
The oceanic conch rolls
removed of its Creature
in sandy depths
An empty vessel
hollow of mind
wanting of Master
gasping, grasping for silvery clay
the Agar.
devoid of Conscience, removed of mine
with my much malice
foot came up with a callous
from walking in palace
kayak did straddle
when I did fall from my saddle
broke my plastic paddle
had become sedate
after I did find my fate
empty was my plate.
……….gale force winds announce the doom
…………………..portent of a dark and deathly gloom
…………………………..a maddening shriek of raging wind
……………………….howling terror the frightening din
………….rips great trees from the ground
….tosses the structures all around
………….raging malice haunting fright
………………twister spinning in the night
……………………….darkened clouds surging
…………….wind and rain merging
…..funnel of mighty hell
..tolls the death knell
…………terrors bloody ride
…………………..nowhere to hide
…………spinning away
…….from all that
…………..used to be
……..what we
…………called
………..this
………..life
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