A number of weeks ago Jane Dougherty and I did what I like to call “dueling poetry” on Twitter. Where one person starts with a micro-poem or Haiku and another (or more) write follow up pieces. Loosely linked micro-poems (or Haiku) that can develop in ways one never imagined – each feeding off the words of the other. I have take a few bits of what I wrote, developed and with some rearranging and re-writing have come up with the following short dark poem. Do also take a look at Jane’s WordPress Blog for poetry and books.
Distorted Dreams
Despair walks alone in pouring rain
Guided by distorted dreams and pain
Searching evermore in shadows
Thirsting for the blood of those lost
Spirits free to wander in twilight
Bodies shed in a forgotten blight
Husks ploughed deep into furrows
Cast aside to feed the dark abyss
At Death’s door souls mingle
Forsakened messengers linger
Harpies sing a mournful lament
While banshees remain silent
Copyright © 2015 Shawn D. Standfast. All rights reserved.
The etching below is “Harpies in the infernal wood,” from Inferno XIII, by Gustave Doré, 1861.
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