Melissa enjoys writing poetry to express herself, and loves learning about new styles and experimenting with different patterns.
Edgar Allan Poe frightened the Victorians in 1845 with the publishing of The Raven, and Shakespeare thrilled audiences in the Renaissance with Macbeth's witches and their talk of toil and trouble. Indeed, the horror genre contains some of the strongest imagery in literature, and horror poetry is no exception. This genre might be my favorite genre to explore, as I grew up reading Stephen King novels and watching classic horror films like Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Here is a collection of poems I wrote featuring all things dark and spooky, to get you in the mood for Halloween. It all begins with a dark and stormy night...
The Storm
An absence of birdsong
Red skies at morning
Sailors take warning
Thick dust bunny clouds
Racing the hesitating sun
They leave it in the dust
Uprising cumulonimbus towers
Clearly indicating showers
To drown all the growing flowers
And flood the ground with their power
Wind blowing from the east
Cold and warm air mingling
Like ghosts dueling with the living
The air feels fuzzy and strange
Something evil is coming
Curling leaves and swelling wood
The trees can feel it too
It’s in their roots and in my blood
Quickly pushing its way through
This is not good
A storm is beginning to stew
Rain announces its arrival
On pitter patter stomp stomp feet
Whispering gently from the sky
Before knocking loudly at the window
Begging to come in, OH WON’T YOU LET ME IN
Flooding my doorstep with darkness
Eyes open
Lightning volleys down from the sky
Searing my eyes with its image
It scrapes its long fingers down my window
What is light and what is dark?
My lungs are being crushed from the inside
I am falling I am falling
Let the currents take me
Eyes shut
Silence
Beautiful unknowing
No harsh flashing
The clouds are receding
Trees not reaching for me
No more water between my fingertips
No more wondering what I might lose
Welcoming the cool shiver and soft echoing ripples
I drift back into dreamland into darkness into night
Into Night
Moonlight blooms as day grows slight
Clouds are shifting, changing skies
Into darkness, into night
Through the forest, left or right?
Is it truth or just more lies?
Moonlight blooms as day grows slight
Black and purple shroud your sight
You could follow plaintive cries
Into darkness, into night
Which is dark and which is light?
Which path is your soul’s demise?
Moonlight blooms as day grows slight
Grasping tendrils hold you tight
Clutching shadows drag their prize
Into darkness, into night
Falling, diving from the heights
Will you drown or will you rise?
Moonlight blooms as day grows slight
Into darkness, into night
Awakening Terror
There on the hill
There is a house
A house with a door
A house hiding secrets
Secrets that are dark
Secrets better left unnoticed
Unnoticed movement
Unnoticed whispering
Whispering from beyond
Whispering of a book
A book of death and evil
A book terrible but great
Great Old Ones are sleeping
Great tentacled one waits dreaming
Dreaming in water
Dreaming through ages
Ages of exalted nothingness
Ages of worship
Worship the Great Ones
Worship or perish
Perish in unspeakable horror
Perish knowing their anger
Anger reaching the tallest mountains
Anger penetrating the depths of the seas
Seas so ancient and wide
Seas to contain the sleeping
Sleeping as they were placed
Sleeping but not forever
Forever they will always exist
Forever in the back of your mind
Mind flashing through images
Mind cannot comprehend them
Them with their mighty forms
Them with tendrils of darkness
Darkness overwhelming
Darkness begetting nothing
Nothing is scarier than nothing
Nothing is more powerful
Powerful visions show the truth
Powerful is this ancient book
Book of eldritch horrors
Book depicting the end
End of life itself
End of the Old Ones’ dreaming
Dreaming of the people’s terror
Dreaming of his awakening
Awakening
Terror
Slenderman
The thin man
Governs the forest
With stretching
Tentacles
Get the pages one by one
But he will find you
He is there
Lurking behind you
Take a step
Don’t look back
He is always watching you
Blank face has no eyes
Sometimes he
Causes you to be
Sick with fear
And then you
Can’t remember who you were
But you know his face
He moves fast
As if he jumps through
Portals of
Time and space
People vanish and are not
Seen alive again
What he does
To little victims
Is unknown
But some think
He impales them on a tree
Their souls bleeding out
Thin and tall
Malevolent thing
In his suit
Of black ink
Creating paranoia
You’re not seeing things
After me
In this dark forest
Where to run?
I can’t run
I need to find those pages
It’s my only hope
So children
Who live in this world
Don’t go with
The tall man
Don’t follow outstretched arms or
Your sight is static
Hypothermia
Winter’s chill slides down my spine
It is watching all the time
In the corner of my eye
I see its suit, its blackened tie
It compels me, and I go
I step through pathways in the snow
I cannot speak, I only follow
It leaves no footprints, makes no sound
If I go I may not be found
It compels me, and I go
Limping now, around the bend
I will never be seen again
Too many teeth, there’s blood on snow
The last sight I will ever know
It rips my lungs out and I die
Now it is dead and so am I
I compel you, so now you must go
Zombies
Seeking dinner, zombies moan
Shambling slowly up the street
In the dark I am alone
Hoping I won’t be their meat
Shooting bullets at the dead
Chances slim, escape plans vague
Scared survivors filled with dread
Praying not to catch the plague
Faces caked with crust and frost
Piling up by doors in scores
Dwindling life among the lost
Not quite human anymore
Make your peace and be contrite
Save your soul before they bite
Shredder
Paper stack
Hangs above shredder
Now he waits
For the drop
Life slips away as each inch
Lowers into blades
The Crystal Swan
Once upon a time in a quiet provincial village
There lived a poor merchant struggling not to pillage
Scraping for money wherever he could, begging for help
He was surprised one day to find a swan on his doorstep
Now this swan was no ordinary swan
Her feathers shone in radiant crystal tones
And her eggs were no ordinary eggs
The shells were burnished in radiant diamond stone
But to create these eggs, there was a dreadful cost
They grew and thrived on human blood lost
He first noticed this power when his son got a splinter
The egg was enough to carry them through the winter
But the merchant wanted more and more
Every day he would bring the swan to his store
Hoping for terrible things to befall
Those around him, and one day, he found a windfall
In an awful carriage accident, many men were maimed
But the merchant only saw more profits to be gained
In the spilling of cabbages, apples, and blood
Were birthed eggs of diamond, a sparkling flood
But the merchant wanted more and more
Even if he needed to create his own gore
And then came a golden opportunity
His neighbor’s cry for clemency
The man had lost his crops in a roaring blaze
But the farmer only met a cruel and greedy gaze
The merchant’s heart of stone pushed him away
And the starving farmer lost his life in seven days
But the merchant wanted more and more
Surrounded by piles of eggs in scores
He still could not achieve his fill
So his mind was made to kill
He slaughtered the village, all the women and men
After the death of his children he realized his deed
He could never ever get them back again
Diamonds upon diamonds filling the streets
Once upon a time in a quiet provincial village
Died a merchant struggling to atone for his sins
A lone swan with crystal feathers flies away
Dyed crimson red with the blood of innocents
Children Are So Sweet
I was oh… so… hungry…
Sure, I was living in a gingerbread house
Surrounded by candy
But I longed for something
With a little more substance
I needed more, more, more…
Two little children trudge up the road
Chubby and confused
Carrying a certain… gravitas
What a wonderful surprise!
I beckon them inside with spatula in hand
Don’t mind the barbecue sauce on my apron…
They eat… and eat… and eat…
Shoveling cakes and cookies in cavernous little mouths
Dark pits of no return
Smacking and tearing, swallowing the sun whole
More… more… more…
Their violence gives me the most delightful chills
Don’t you feel cold, little boy?
After such a delicious meal
Here, I’ll warm you up
Nice and toasty
It’s nothing personal
After all, I’m hungry too
Baking my warm little pies
Full of warm little squelches
And a light crunch here and there
Chunky little cheeks stuffed with flavor
Bright shining eyes are a happy meal prize
Little sausage fingers dangling limply from the oven
The smell of boiling blood makes me want to eat
Children are so sweet
Paranoia
We were never truly safe
For that thin and anguished waif
She was always there in the background
Waiting patiently to surround us
For that thin and anguished waif
We were helpless easy prey
Waiting patiently to surround us
It was only a matter of time
We were helpless easy prey
On a path of black leaves
It was only a matter of time
Do you see out in the distance?
On a path of black leaves
We were never truly safe
Do you see out in the distance?
She was always there in the background
Cool
You are a teenaged boy named Brad
Determined to follow every fad
The 'rents think you're mad, your friends think you're rad
And you never, ever, ever want to look bad
There is a lighthouse on the outskirts of town
Faded and covered with moss, green and brown
Some say that one day a little boy drowned
But your friends are sneaking in to gain renown
So you go with them, your choice is made
You try to appear to not be afraid
It's a ghost story, a trick someone played
As you crossed the threshold you prayed
But prayer falls on deaf ears
In the home of death and fear
Inside the entrance hall you found
Scattered in tatters all over the ground
Pictures of the boy who drowned
His black eyes accusing, small and round
His father left town, afraid and contrite
After his son's death on a stormy night
Your friends lift the photos into the light
Laughing at the pictures to conceal their fright
You kids really shouldn't be here
With no protection near
In a place abandoned in fear
Is that a dripping sound you hear
You all descend into the basement
Closer to the fate for which you were meant
The basement is cold, damp and dim
Foreboding fills you to the brim
Why follow your friends' every whim
To this place of horrors with a story so grim
Down the stairs flickers a light
Your heart beats quicker at this sight
But you want to conceal your fright
So down you tread, mustering your might
There on the wall hang the iron chains
Where the boy was beaten and drowned in flooding rain
Thrashing and lashing against death as it came
Now his spirit looks for someone to blame
In that shadowed room, the spirit watched, scheming
The light goes out, and everyone starts screaming
Running like your feet were set alight
You and your friends fled into the night
But once outside, you realized something wasn't right
Your wallet was nowhere in sight
You must have left it way deep down
In the place where the boy was beaten and drowned
You resembled his father, your hair and eyes were brown
And that sealed your fate: you'd never leave town
Carelessly over the photos you walked
Not knowing you were being stalked
Not hearing the ticking of your clock
Or the sound of the ghost's vengeful knock
And so you march to your death down the stairs
In your mind the sirens should blare, but you are unaware
In the dim basement light slowly graying
The dead boy appears with a face so dismaying
In a tone that should be meant for playing
He whispers that he is here for slaying
Outside your friends see the lighthouse flash SOS
Coldly mocking your distress
Not caring at all about your duress
They leave you to die, nothing more, nothing less
He thrusts the knife in, tearing you apart
Wears your entrails and eats your heart
So from this world you depart
Now that you're dead, you don't feel so smart
You were too reckless, you trespassing fool
Now somewhere, what's left of your corpse is cool
Reaper
Death creeps, bides his time
All things must come to an end
The wraith is watching
More of my Poetry
- Legend of the Minotaur
This narrative poem is an exciting retelling of the myth of the minotaur, a terrifying monster with the head of the bull and the body of a man, stalking through a labyrinth on the Isle of Crete for his human sacrificial prey. - 17 Poems About Nature
This is a collection of poems that I wrote about nature and wildlife, and our interactions with the natural world. - 11 Poems About Love for Valentine's Day
Falling in love is a magical feeling. Each of these poems gives a snapshot of different love stories, capturing that feeling and bringing it to life. - 7 Poems About Breakups
This is a collection of poems about the end of a relationship and all of the mixed emotions that can come with it.
© 2018 Melissa Clason
Comments
Prithviraj Shirole from India on July 06, 2020:
Those were really scary poems. Loved them. Thanks for sharing.
Carrie Lee Night from Northeast United States on May 12, 2020:
Great work :) Thank u for sharing :)
Iqra from Pakistan on November 02, 2019:
An excellent dark write, wonderful imagery,...
Dark and creepy,amazing use of the rhymes....
thanks for sharing...
Tia Miller from Arkansas on October 24, 2019:
I really enjoyed all of these
Steve Tyson from Byron Bay, Australia on September 28, 2019:
Glad I didn't read these before bedtime Melissa! Great stuff...
Anthony Straeger on May 01, 2019:
Some nice work. Into Night is a very good piece of writing.
Mark Tulin from Palm Springs, California on October 30, 2018:
Wonderful collection. It contributes to the Halloween mood.
CUTELOVERGIRL on September 09, 2018:
My friends love these poems as much as I do
Tim Truzy from U.S.A. on August 01, 2018:
I love the way you wrote these poems. The story dictated the rhyming schemes which you used for maximum impact. I like the surrealistic approach you used and the stories were great.
Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Tim
Louise Powles from Norfolk, England on July 30, 2018:
These are all good poems for Halloween. It will soon be here!
