Five Horror Poems
Just when you thought the Halloween shivers had ceased, I offer five poems of true horror in our lives.
Naomi
We drive over valleys and summits
Crossing basin and range Nevada
On a lonesome road
Open skies reflecting open land
Lifts my spirit with its possibilities.
Suddenly we veer to the shoulder
I watch her duck behind a pinion
And remember those days when
I could drop my drawers for relief.
Returning, her hands drop in her lap
My no-nonsense daughter seems shaken
There's a boot in the pine duff
The toe points straight up
We both know what that means.
She reports it to the Sheriff
Then asks him about Naomi.
Oh yeah, she's dead, didn't last an hour
They just haven't found her body yet.
He's so cavalier
It's his day-in-a-life story
Girl is kidnapped murdered
She was waiting for the shuttle
Sipping coffee in the morning dusk.
I've read the stories
People disappear without a trace
It's a big desert out there
Pinion duff, dust devils
Canyons and hollows hide
Lots of nefarious deeds
Now I scan the open land
Wonder how many more
Are waiting to be found
And think of Naomi
In her shallow grave.
Guadalupe
gloved hands sort through tons of garbage
find a broken doll in plastic
tiny corpse just three days sleeping
yellow tapes surround the crime scene
policemen sift the trash for clues
while chaplains soften workers’ grief
they name her Guadalupe
spare change piles on the table
townsfolk mourn with silent murmurs
in a community funeral mass
angel statue guards the small grave
where she lies a tiny mark on
those who whisper hopeful Aves
for their own children.
Dufflebag
against the truck tire
police find a body
pretzeled inside
middle-aged woman
natural causes
none of her family
knows how she got there
they guard their stories
how years ago
husband and children
suburban home
all the right parties
until something snapped
whatever the cause
none of her friends know
how she got on Fourth Street
living in missions
until she was found
face down in the alley
who packaged her
moved her here
to a resort town
without telling
someone why
Eyes
He shakes my hand
As introductions require
His eyes look past me
Eyes that belie the handsome
structure of his face
Eyes that lure
the naive to trust
Eyes that stir a warning
A banner headline across my brain
There is something really kinky here.
I seek the homeliest man there
and feel my discomfort ease.
Next day at work I spy his eyes again
A wire photo lying on the City Desk
Serial killer finally nabbed in sting.
The editors hum around
that busy hive of daily horrors
Deadlines loom, stories need
positioning on the page
according to importance
All becomes a blur as I
stand there, stunned.
I shook the hand of evil.
Domestic Bliss
Redwood walls hover over the walks
Ivy thrives here along with maryjane
rosemary and thyme.
He glowers from his doorstep
unavoidable
between my car and my door
his beard peppered
his eyes like steel and blood
his smile like the Cheshire Cat
But the grin left last month
when I called the cops
for his screaming woman.
She's still around
decided not to press charges
even bailed him out
couldn't stand the
brutality
she saw him go through
forgetting her own bruises.
Doin' just fine now, she says
She cringes at the sound
of shattering glass
of whining cries
from the place upstairs
Then she shrugs
Another fight … well gotta go
She disappears inside.
I retreat to my place
My bay window faces outward
toward the sea
I close my door on those
facing inward
facing each other
facing the blank garden apartment
tenement walls.
If you enjoyed these poems, feel free to check out more writings in the Ring Around the Basin Archives.
Yowza! Excellent, Sue! Creeping myself out by reading these over morning coffee. Between these and the spiders..... yeeps. I can't find the one you wrote on Burning man. Could you send a link?
A great collection of chilling poems that remind us that the most evil monsters of horror are always humans.