Whittle Away
your affinity
with fear
the sky
is dimmed
in the debris
shadow
your spirit
cannot soar
among
the clutter
it's packing up
getting ready
to vacate
bleaching bones
sanding down
cartilage
scouring the flesh
plastering over
pockmarked pores
dousing flesh
in bitter solvent
there is no cure
no inoculation
but a resolution
a clearer resolution
to shine a light
in your dark places
deny
your endemic
decomposers
the sharp quiet
they need
to whittle
away
Your Incendiary Nature
hard-core aliens
microscopic invaders
occidental exotic
high-yield atomic warheads
brash and vicious
your ambush to the bridge
of the springtime voyeur
evacuate the tube
exploding solar
saffron spikes
stars and spice
flush out
get carried on the wind
to a heady, but base demise
call it karmic retribution
for your incendiary nature
The Tall Man
The room was still, the only movement, flames in the fireplace, the only sound her breathing. Bara turned over, poked her head over the edge of the bed, and looked down onto an empty bottom bunk. Amy wasn’t there. Had Amy already gotten up and gone to breakfast. Red light shone through the window. The sun was rising. It was still early. Amy wasn’t what one would call a morning person. What had gotten her out of bed?
Bara threw back the covers and hopped down from the top bunk. A fire burned in the fireplace, but the room was still very cold. Her breath steamed into the air. Dragon’s breath, her mother called it. She grabbed her wrapper and forgetting the rule about always wearing the school uniform went out into the hallway. The corridor was deserted. Candlelight fought back the gloom. This was her first clue. I’m dreaming?
A dark-haired figure stood at the end of the hallway. Mathew. He didn’t speak but nodded. Was it really him? Bara ran but he didn’t wait. She reached the top of stairs just as his head disappeared from the bottom rungs. She slowed just a little before going down. Patsy had told her about a girl who’d died years ago running down a flight of stairs at St. Cat. Ever since Bara was extra careful with steps. She arrived at the bottom and emerged out onto the courtyard.
Mathew wasn’t there. He’d disappeared and so had the sun. The sky was now dense with black clouds. They burst forth with silver rain. The rain turned to hail, landing hard and bouncing off the grey cobbles that had replaced the grass of the courtyard’s waking reality. The dark-haired boy was gone, but she wasn’t alone. From the shadows of the surrounding cloisters slipped out the Demen. They wore rags. Their faces were grotesque twists of agony and madness.
Bara turned to run back inside, but the entryway alcove had sealed, stoned up. There was no escape. Behind her began a hum. She turned back. Now would come the show. The Demen linked hands and drove her into the courtyard. They formed a circle and trapped her in its center. Mocking glares of silver glinted in their crazed eyes. They chanted as they danced.
There once was a silly girl
An enslaver of Demen
She defeated a devil
By imprisoning the evil
Her name was Bar … ah … ah … ra
Bar … ah … ah … ra
Alas, the joke was on her
For she knew not whence she came
Brynndalin would bide her time
For Bara would soon, misplace her mind
J … j … join us
Bar … ah … ah … ra
J … j … join us
Bar … ah … ah … ra
Time is on our side
For eternity, we have
To share, but always at a price
Live forever yes, but your soul sacrificed
J … j … join us
Bar … ah … ah … ra
J … j … join us
Bar …ah … ah … ra
Infatuation en masse
Too great such a temptation
For mere mortals to deny, to shun
With ease, good’s attraction, overcome
J … j … join us
Bar … ah … ah … ra
J … j … join us
Bar …ah … ah … ra
Behind every smile or cajole
Is a friend, not yet your foe
So dear, Bara, try as you must
But never will you know, who to trust
J … j … join us
J … j … join us
J … j … join us
The Demen maintained the round but two let go of hands and reached out. “Come now,” said the one, beckoning to Bara.
“Already half-way there,” said the other. “Might as well.”
They continued to circle around her, but Bara wasn’t their only focus. Forming out of the dropping hail was her mother’s statue. The Demen weren’t wrong. She’d go mad alright. Anger. Rage. Inflamed. They’d done this to her mother, and she’d throttle them for it, every last one.
She rushed and scattered the group. The Demen treated it as a game and ran about the courtyard, jeering and taunting, and remaining just out of her reach. Intent on inflicting damage, Bara grabbed at the hem of a tattered cloak. It came away and fell to the stones below. From the fallen cloak, black wings took to the air. The demon had transformed into a crow, but not an ordinary, everyday crow. Maybe a raven. No even bigger than that. Its beak curved like a raptor and its claws were sharp talons. Enormous wings flapped and came to a hover. It gave out a horrible squawk.
Bara covered her head with her hands, expecting an attack. There was none. She looked again and gasped.
The bird was growing in size. It grew until it reached the girth and height of a man. An enormous man. Then it was a man. The tall man with the dark cloak from her dream with the magnolia tree. His face remained hidden beneath the cowl of his robe, but there was no mistaking his presence. All the Demen took flight then, grew wings and feathers, and assumed crow form. They swarmed around the figure in the dark hood and formed a menacing murmuration. The sky was filled with black. A murder it was called. A murder of crows.
The cacophony of screeches and caws reached a siren … the sound of a ringing alarm clock.
***
Words and Images are my own.
Whittle Away was first published today.
Your Incendiary Nature is published in Monsters, Avatars, and Angels.
MAA, the Tall Man, and its prequel, the Wisp, are available in paperback or digital through amazon and your local libraries and bookstores.
Click on any title below to further explore and support my writing.
Whittle Away and the images are on permanent display. The Tall Man and Your Incendiary nature are on display for one one week.
Nice poetry writing.
Thank you, Kam:)