Form Challenges #17
Gothic Poetry |
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Pause for a moment and think! Have you ever felt that you were not alone whilst walking out
late at night. Have you heard the howling of a wolf, the hoot of an owl, or that sound that
you just can't make out and on hearing that sound rushed to the safety of your home. Once
the door is locked and bolted feeling the relief of escape.
Night
And the word created flesh
And the flesh created fear,
But the flesh could not fear itself
And so created fear of the night.
In the redness of the full moon
You waken and remember your fear
The creaking movements in the house
Then the cold, fearful sweats start again
Breathing hardens, eyes wide in fear.
Then the moon breaks through the clouds again
You see the creature stalking you.
The silver grey shining fur, inching closer.
The bloody red eyes and slavering mouth.
It leaps at you, feel the jaws bite.
Redness!!!!
Screaming you wake up in a cold sweat
Above your pounding heart, hear the sounds
Teagan De Dannan
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This mood of poetry is increasingly popular as an alternative to the sweet,white,
lovey dovey of Keats and Wordsworth. The master of Blank Verse, William Shakespeare wrote
some of the darkest poetry, I would refer you to his tragedies. So, if you fancy a change try
Poe and Rice instead of Sugar and Spice.
Just as with Sugar and Spice poetry, there is no specific form that is prefered
and even Limericks can have a dark side:
Dinner was set for three
At Dracula's house by the sea
The hors d'oeuvres were fine
But I choked on the wine
When I found out the main course was me.
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In my humble opinion the master of black moods is Edger Allen Poe and his "Annabel Lee"
(Pindaric Ode) is considered by some to be the epitome of Dark poetry.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
~Edgar Allan Poe~
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Nothing is sacred when it comes to dark poetry, instead humiliation of things held most sacred is the norm
and defiling and degrading the sacred things are the very basis of blackness.
Suicide, murder, chaos and evil creatures all form part of this wonderfull state and simple Cinquains turn into
cries for help from the suicidal;
Dark Cinquains
you left
taking my soul
straight razor licks my wrists
blending blood with tepid water
life flows
you laughed
it broke my heart
steel barrel strokes my face
finger caressing the trigger
one squeeze
always
spurned by your love
I now patiently sit
between two shiny iron rails
horn blows
Mike Sherman
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James Shields does a wonderfull job of describing death from alcoholism with this Sicilian Quintain:
Black Death (4 Quintains)
Black around the eyes, I drink more.
Slamming jealousy down my hole.
Misery's poison, taken like a whore.
The bottle demon playing it's role.
Bottle's empty, but my mind still rages war.
Drowned in sorrow, I sink quicker.
Whore eats away at my life's cords.
Depression breathes, soaking up my liquor.
Cannot sleep or forget about her words.
Prepare another bottle, I get sicker.
Sink faster, flushed with madness.
Pages are stained with alcohol.
Eyes glazed, trapped in darkness.
Running ink across the floor crawls.
Eaten away, drown the sadness.
Drifting further, I see demons dance.
Another cigarette in sorrow.
Shaken nerves, they twist my stance.
Kill the pain before tomorrow.
Need that liquid substance, my ends are frayed,
James Shields, Cryptic Visions
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Am Faidh
On The Edge Of Darkness
Here I sit watching the edge of darkness unfold,
On the crest of the world atop a tower of silence
Where the carrion birds strip flesh from bodies cold.
Shadow figures lurk within the advancing threshold
Of the night, and the carrion eaters appear to tense,
As I sit watching the edge of darkness unfold.
These are the shadow guides of life I behold.
In life and death one sees and knows their presence
Where the carrion birds strip flesh from bodies cold
To this place I have come to farewell a friend - very old.
Here there is peace, time to contemplate life's transience
As I sit watching the edge of darkness unfold.
Soon the body breakers will attend as he foretold,
Their bone crushing hammers ringing in cadence
Whilst carrion birds strip flesh from other bodies cold.
So little time to talk so many things left untold.
Within the life I have left, I shall miss his guidance,
As I sit watching the edge of darkness unfold
Whilst carrion birds strip flesh from bodies cold.
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Etain Druantia
Blackness
Blackness
pervades all thoughts
colorless, lifeless dead
wishing for freedom from life's hell
depressed
depressed
he loves me not
stupid mouth says wrong thing
failures multiply with each breath
kill me
kill me
seeking release
too cowardly to die
will bury head beneath covers
hiding
hiding
I am lost cause
he tries so hard to help
but I'm imprisoned, no escape from
blackness
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Shadows
In shadows dwell I
ghostly shape of a girl
with tremulous sigh
clutching dreams to frail breast.
Heart lies shattered
remnants strewn about small feet
He was all that had mattered
and I kick my broken heart.
He wanted me but not Me true
in living flesh I failed him
How? I wish I knew
as the darkness closes in.
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Galadrial Myst
Bury Me in Sorrow
Murmurings echo this empty shell
with others who precede me
to hell's way at a brisk pace.
Bereft and adrift I reap
and sow course sand leaking
through time.
Discordant; I watch
in remorse.
So like dreams, unrelenting taunts
taking their toll. I release,
spewing forth hungry fantasy.
Clenched lips nourish with moisture low.
Gritty particles disappear in undulating waves
of transgression.
I bask in hollow-stomach lies,
life flashes before my eyes.
Tulip fields,
lush with fallacy-fed humid puffs, thrive.
Petals open, doubling to the shuddering,
windy nips and I watch appalled,
cold breeze releasing their hips,
blooming unfertile.
Suffer me, take me down
as black nears over the rise,
fading away.
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Petruchio
He, That Brings Darkness
The Beyond is within reach
Fears are without rain dew from eyes
He can walk between rows without leaving footprints
And can descend from heavens without feathers
He, that brings Darkness, also brings despair
His weaponry honed sharp, like his tongue
His flames dangerously close to thatched huts
This is a legacy, that evil as wrought
Their exalted treasure they earned with their greed
He burdens the earth with his demonic offspring
Motherless children
Spawned from a hole ripped in the belly of the dirt
Oh, do not be succoured by the venom that curls from dour lips
He, that brings Darkness
Cannot live in the light
And there, riding a banner of wind
Is where justice has no escape
And chariots are filled with Heaven's splendour
A love of the False Deliverer
Can only bring sorrow.
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Sal Coraccio
Razor Blade Barrel
Give me your ideals;
all of your visions for a perfect world.
Entrust in me
that which you have given life,
body and soul;
your paragon.
Let me hold it, caress it -
and seal it into an iron barrel.
I will add a razor blade
for each slice of reality
that you've dismissed.
One for each human frailty,
one for each deadly sin,
each apostle, prophet, priest,
pope, preacher, and padre.
Then I will take it to your holy mountaintop -
and let
it roll
down.
Then, my friend,
we will drink of your wine,
and marvel at its vintage.
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RED
I can taste the salty wet, it smacks of blood,
it smacks of sweat.
And the smell of near the ear, along the neck;
the smell of fear.
It runs from me, it makes me smile -
I let it run from fate a while.
I let it think I won't come back, and then in darkness
break its back
The crushing snap of bone is music to my soul,
as is the drumming of it's heart while I consume it whole.
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Teagan De Danaan
Matrix
I hear the harsh crying of life
Above the whispers of the night
The final flash of life beating upwards
Or being dragged downwards
Staring at the vastness of starlight
And the lack of fulfilled promises
Like precious china cups
Shattering against the wall in Fates rage
A satellite flashes overhead
As I look into the darkness around
And see a drunk vomit into the gutter
His clothes smelling of faeces and urine
A passing patrol car drives past the alley
And in the spotlight they see a body
The needle still hanging in a pock marked arm
White flesh contrasting against the black floor.
Crying with frustration
I question the 2 million years of evolution
And wonder about the creation
Of this Simian Matrix.
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Metastasis, the spores of Hell
Take good heed of the werewolf's bite
And vampires and creatures of the night.
Those hellish creatures have a solid form
On which this evil feeds upon.
They have need also to fear this one.
In Lucifer's pits there grows a spore
Eating flesh, and needing nothing more
Than blood or guts or the living brain
Ne'r was a war with more victims slain
It's evil devised by Satan's insane.
Tell me a loved one who has not lost
Tell me in life what has been the cost.
The hero does not fear the bite
Of arrows or creatures of the night
Yet against this foe even he takes flight.
We watch as loved ones are eaten away
Growing weaker, more pained each day
We watch as father, as mother as husband or wife
And friends we watch painfully face their strife
When were once so strong and full of life
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A Night Story
Listen to the night winds wail
Over the bodies of the newly dead
Carrying their souls beyond life's veil
The body rotting in its earthy bed
And creating this ghastly tale
From which all sanity has fled.
Suddenly feel the icy touch
Shrivelled hands reach out in anti-mirth
Feel them grab and cling and clutch
Smell the fetid dampened earth
Emerging from a rotting crutch
Delivering a long forgotten afterbirth
Welcome the grave for all you are worth
For what is life but a prelude to death.
Suddenly feel the icy touch
Shrivelled hands reach out in anti-mirth
Feel them grab and cling and clutch
Smell the fetid dampened earth
Emerging from a rotting crutch
Delivering a long forgotten afterbirth
Welcome the grave for all you are worth
For what is life but a prelude to death
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Theneva
Nothing
We
they said
but I
can't be led
We
they moaned
as I
cast a slide glance
We
they plea'd
for my
Valentine death
I
then sighed
you can't
help with words
I
then moaned
am alright
nothing to say
I
then cried
they don't know
how it is living dead
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Sabotaged
Suicide Affairs
Woven into my dreams
Wandering through my psyche
Whether or not you should
Wishful thinking so misunderstood
FLYS...
When the world is wicked
Why does it seem nonexistent
Waking without seeing
Walking without feeling
SHIER...
Whatever happens stops with you
Whichever road is travelled
Weaves over and into my heart
Whipped by the wind of your voice
HIGHER...
Whispered when sadness rains
When you walked away
Waved as passing strangers may
Wrapped me up inside pains
LIAR...
Would that torment free me
Wild in abandoned love
Willed from rejection in the seas
Waves to drown me and die
WHY her...
Sabotaged Affair
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Sabotaged Dreams
Sabotage my puzzle
Steal my pieces from the board
Say she's unavailable
So it's ok to break her hearts cords
CRUSHED...
Sing the one man band song
String me along like a bead
Shame me and make me bleed
Scare me and watch the pain
HUSHED...
Soul friends should be
Should share the moon
Sing praises for the boon
Sure to make life so sweet
RUSHED...
Sweep the floor with her
Swear she's not the one
Shun the sunlight of love affairs
Shake the tree and bite the apples
LUSH...
Suffer the scourge of singleness
Shallow waters above your head
Short change destiny for a swim
Sorrows raging beside the dream
PUSHED away...
Sabotaged Dreams.
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Yvonne Denise Springer
The Stygian Night
A skeletal hand bursts forth from the sky
Illuminating this stygian night.
Liquid sorrow descends from up above
And I observe with sheer morbid delight.
Quickly the smirk fades from my pallid lips--
I feel strong emotions raging inside.
A fervent sensation burns through my veins
And the thirsting for blood will not subside.
Heading out into the somber evening
Thoughts of feasting on prey strengthens my will.
Detecting the odor of living tissue
The coppery aroma heightens my thrill.
Allowing safe passage through listless shadows
Blanketing darkness conceals my contour.
I am the Midnight Mist, Satan's Songbird,
An existing nightmare from days of Yore.
Dual spears designed to impale human flesh
Form twin wells, and so I latch to the nape.
A physical struggle will do no good
Release from Life is the only escape.
It is of no use to plead for mercy
I harbor no conscience, no self-control.
Beware the hours which relegate light
In the blink of an eye I'll steal your soul.
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