A really scary poem. By that I do not mean Hollywood "B" movie themes or monsters.
NO WEREWOLVES, VAMPIRES, ZOMBIES, BANSHEES OR THE LIKE, OK? DID I FORGET TO MENTION GHOSTS? NO GHOSTS, OK? NO SLASHER STUFF EITHER! I WANT SUBTLE THINGS THAT WORK ON YOUR MIND. THINK ABOUT A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A KIDNAPPED GIRL LIKE CASTRO TOOK OR THE POINT OF VIEW OF SOME KID HIDING IN THE CLOSET AT SANDY HOOK. THAT'S WHAT WILL KEEP YOU AWAKE, NOT SOME SUPERNATURAL STORY YOU TELL AROUND THE CAMPFIRE WHILE EATING S'MORES! THESE ARE JUST EXAMPLES, BUT I HOPE IT PUTS YOU ON THE RIGHT TRACK. IT'S ABOUT REAL PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR AND DREAD. YOU CAN PUSH THE ENVELOPE WITH FANTASY, BUT AVOID THESE TIRED CLICHES, PLEASE. READ "THE TELL-TALE HEART" OR "THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM" BY POE FOR THE RIGHT TONE.
Richard Cory
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Think along the lines of a classic Twilight Zone plot or a science fiction short story like Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I must Scream", or Edgar Allen Poe, or the movie "Saw", or some real-life horror story. Got it?
Any form will do, but I'm partial to rhyme or at least consistent meter. No prose please. Long enough to develop the theme.
Prizes will be given to the ones that I wish I could forget.