NaPM April 14, 2018

[Todd]

Rules: Write a poem for national poetry month on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a separate reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month have written 30 poems for National Poetry Month.


Topic 14: Write a poem inspired by a horror film, slasher movie, or something that scares you.
Form: any
Line requirements: 8 lines or more


Questions?

~~
I feel I missed an opportunity for a prompt on Friday the 13th. I wouldn't want to rob all of you. Next year puppies and rainbows--maybe.

[Lizzie]

Damascus, Homs, & We-The-People

We have a tendency to be late for things
like world wars.

Chlorine,
sarin—

forty-nine gassings?
We’re just not morning People.

Press the snooze bar—doze
through one more red line.

Fifty.
We yawn and phone our friends,

like the dead ringers we are:
I suppose it’s getting about time...

[Knot]

Bedtime


The sheets are coffin cold,
too tight, and hospital corners
have the cruelty of tourniquets.
Two shadows wait outside
the door, sentinels, eaters
of light. Beneath your bed
the chasm soughs, a silence
crawls to coil around your tongue.
The night smiles, a thousand
wet-black teeth. "No-one
is listening, no-one
will hear you. You are
my delight until the dawn."

[Richard]

Romero's Legacy

We're supposed to be the zombies in the mall,
our craving for flesh the lust for material goods,
rotted skin representing the bliss of consumerism.

But then there's the starving survivors,
who hide upstairs, plotting ways
to get what they think they deserve.

This is why I stopped watching these movies alone,
the human characters started to scare me too much.

[dukealien]

Aroint Thee, Slick!



You’ll laugh, I know,
but more than death
I’m scared of ice.

Having rolled one car
and wrecked another on it—
that, and periodic pratfalls—

when I feel my vehicle’s rear end
begin to wander, or a foot
to slip, those memories

roll roiling in, my bowels begin
to liquify.  So ice, betrayer
of assumptions, let me by!

[just mercedes]

Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis


slatted shadows flat along the ground
intersecting angles of walls and struts

crouched under the shearing shed
at Woolleys Bay, paralysed, hiding

straining to see who makes the sounds
of stealthy footsteps, nearing.

The scene congeals around me; scream
seized like a fist in my throat

convulsed with adrenalin and fear
I watch the axe flash closer through

strobes of light, focus on the hand that wields it,
the arm, the head, the staring eyes,

my killer’s face.
My brother.

[Lizzie]

Romero's Legacy

We're supposed to be the zombies in the mall,
our craving for flesh the lust for material goods,

With a couple of concrete elements -- shoes, purses, phones, etc. -- this is a nice observation. Never thought of that symbolism before.

[Richard]

Aroint Thee, Slick!



You’ll laugh, I know,
but more than death
I’m scared of ice.

Having rolled one car
and wrecked another on it—
that, and periodic pratfalls—

when I feel my vehicle’s rear end
begin to wander, or a foot
to slip, those memories

roll roiling in, my bowels begin
to liquify.  So ice, betrayer
of assumptions, let me by!

I like this Duke. You took something ordinary and made me realize it could be quite frightening.

---

Romero's Legacy

We're supposed to be the zombies in the mall,
our craving for flesh the lust for material goods,

With a couple of concrete elements -- shoes, purses, phones, etc. -- this is a nice observation. Never thought of that symbolism before.

Thanks Lizzie. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" was all about this type of symbolism, so I just fleshed it out here (pun intended).

[RiverNotch]

What scares me most


Poltergheists in the kitchen,
The zombies on our lawn,
A rat climbing out of the toilet,
The flock of gulls outside,

Tourists with their tripods,
The zombies by our door,
Cereal miller convention,
Hitchcockian birds outside,

Aliens in their tripods,
The town out for a purge,
Serial killer convention,
Meningoencephalitis,

Not-quite-graduating,
The town out for a purge,
The annual family meet-up,
Meningoencephalitis,

Not-quite-graduating
Then looking for a job,
The usual family shouting match
When talking to mom and dad,

A minimum wage paycheck,
Looking for a new job,
The phone getting disconnected,
Avoiding mom and dad,

A minimum wage paycheck
With seven gigs on the side,
The phone getting disconnected,
The strangers on our lawn,

Breaking up with the girlfriend
Because of "gigs on the side",
Our stuff whizzing overhead,
The cops knocking on our door,

Breaking up with the girlfriend,
The world falling apart,
Bullets whizzing overhead,
Bomb bursts in the distance,

A scrambled declaration,
The world falling apart,
The sewers becoming shelters
From bombs now closing the distance,

A forgotten declaration,
Poltergheists among ruins,
The sewers becoming shelters
No one will climb out

[Tiger the Lion]

Comparing Scars

You can't tell me
the ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah
of Friday the 13th
gives you the same chill

as the doon-um

doon-um-doon-um
doon-um

doon-um

doon-um-doon-um-doon-um-doon-um-doon...

of Jaws gives me.

[Todd]

A Study of Contrasts
 
The games I play are not for myself
for the sculptor can see life
beneath the block of marble.
He chips at the stone which never screams.
You must reshape yourself. I am not that man
who would wear a woman’s skin.
You may be in a pit, but I am an artist.

[vagabond]

teleportation

we can go anywhere
in the blink of an eye.
we separate atoms and mind,
time´s stripped of sense
and sense loses time,
when we separate
atoms and mind.
they take different routes,
not fit to be viewed.

we are travelling fast
through a hole in infinity,
we slip through unharmed
in deep sleep.
don´t you dare to start dreaming
before you wake up,
ahead of time!
it is farther than you think.
much longer
than you can think.

inspired by stephen king´s "the jaunt"; this short story gave me a profound scare when i read it, many years ago.. came to my mind instantly when i read this challenge.

prev. version:

we can go anywhere
in an instant.
we separate body and soul.
they seem to take different routes,
not fit to be viewed
separately,
but they reunite
to a constant routine.

we´re travelling fast
through all of eternity,
in a state of sleep,
unharmed.
don´t you dare to wake up!
the end of your dreams
is farther than you think,
much longer...
than you think.

[Leanne]

The Blob

What is there to fear from pink,
gelatinous goo?  Today's CGI
would make it laughable, some kind
of Nickelodeon travail that would
fail to raise more than a titter.  But,
when you're small and have sneaked
down the hall to hide beneath the couch,
unseen in the adults only hours
and there is a thing that covers houses,
oozing up through the drains --
you don't sleep that night
and you won't brush your teeth
alone.

[Keith]

Two cuts different places

He'd left the house hungry and empty
another rage from a vicious mouth,
not listening to the music
aware of door-men, drugs and fire exits.

The rave moved like an ocean swell
he was snatching trances
from around the necks of wet chests.
A calculating magpie collecting gold chains,
disappearing in a flap of black and white.

His wing got caught before he could fly
a Stanley knife talon gave out another smile.
When the police finally caged him,
he was cutting carpets in a downstairs flat.