The August-September Selected Poet is

Wesley Dylan Gray

Please feel free to email Wesley at: wesleydgray@yahoo.com

PIPER AT THE GATES OF HELL

I fret with skeleton fingers
a song to raise an army;
its tone will rattle the bones
and tickle the ears of corpses,
summon Death’s wing from a thunderous crypt,
to soar unchained above the forests.

I compose in drips and shadow.
My flute is made of marrow.
I play the remorse of madness,
sing lament unto the masses.

My tune has mind to steal a breath,
place urges into the dead.
My melody will snare the Reaper—
its notes will bring him kneeling
to do my deeds and bidding.

FUTURE BOY

To us he is a foreigner,
yet the boy is hope
upon the brim of the world,
born from death
into a city that sleeps,
unto sadness,
and to a people who weep.

Our nightmare tongue will rear him
from a mold misplaced so long ago,
faded away like coherent thought,
somehow made indifferent
to the refuge of our rot.

He is a torch within darkness—
the decayed night
of our planet lost
will not be fit to make him bleed.
His light is the hope guiding our path
into the days of futures unseen.

BRING THE LIGHT

What wretched creatures that lie before me!
Squealing, squirming in the dark,
enthralled amidst their feasting orgy,
gnashing teeth,
spattering blood,
festering bone.
Their tongues dance along the drips
of other men’s pain.

Cryptic overseer
looms beyond the mist,
crow shoulders pecking upon the scars.
A thousand wicked grins
gleam from rubble and from rot,
a pile of waste—
dead men leering in the dark.
A door to freedom at their backs,
but most will never see it,
long since trading eyes
for sharper teeth and larger maws.

But I bring The Light,
and I wear the shroud.
My candle burns;
my flame never falters.

The Bearer of the Cross walks beside me.
I pass among the throng
and it parts before my steps;
like the splitting seas—
I bring The Light
and The Darkness scatters

As an author of dark fiction and poetry, Wesley Dylan Gray is difficult to classify. With his words he exudes a disposition of resplendent contrast, writing things of darkness and light, things both beautiful and grotesque. That is to say, his writing is diverse. He doesn’t easily adhere to one particular genre, although you’ll find many of his publications to be in the realms of Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy. His work has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies. He resides in Florida with his wife and daughter.

All of these poems represent a sampling from Wesley’s forthcoming chapbook, Nightmare Dreamer: Poetry Inspired by the Artwork of Zdzilsaw Beksinski.

Discover more at the author’s website: www.wesleydylangray.com.