The February Featured Poet is
Kristen Houghton
Please feel free to email Kristen
at: krisnalan2@msn.com
A SCENT OF BLOOD
The sweet coppery smell hits my olfactory senses fiercely and the craving begins.
Blood.
I can smell it and it is fresh.
It is my aphrodisiac
A scent of fresh blood makes me drunk with anticipation.
Blood.
Breathing through my open mouth, like a cat, I inhale,
A delicious scent of blood.
I search for the source and find...
Fresh.
Warm.
Blood.
Sweet
Blood.
Your blood.
THE RISING
When the darkness comes he has said I must rise,
My limbs are heavy and leaden as I sleep
The first stirring of the craving, the need for him is there
“Beloved, beloved,” I hear a whisper, “Rise!”
The whisper grows stronger, telling me to rise,
“Alone, sweet beloved, alone you must rise,”
And the craving, the sweet, hungry craving begins,
Across the years he tells me to rise.
His sad eyes, his need and my own bid me rise,
Willing me strength and eternal love,
“Hear me beloved, hear me and rise,”
Claims me as his ‘bride,’ commands me to rise.
His voice grows stronger, “Beloved! Rise!”
I feel his strength and my will to survive,
The night will envelope me like a lover
Pushing the heavy lid for the first time…I rise.
RED
Louise has ugly feet that slap on the floor when she walks the halls in big powerful strides. She looks for the weak ones so she can punish them.
I hate Louise.
Louise is mean, she is cruel to anyone she thinks is weak. I am not weak; not anymore anyway. I’m a survivor with invisible scars.
I hate Louise.
Do you know that the word ‘louse’ is in the name Louise? She is a parasite who sucks the life from others. Louse-y Louise, Louse-y Louise, making people weak.
Did I tell you that I am no longer weak?
I hate the feet on her crooked legs. She paints her louse-y toe-nails red and wears red designer sandals to show them off. As if those sandals can take away the ugliness of her feet. That’s the only red she wears.
I think she needs a lot more red.
Louise with her ugly crooked legs and her big disgusting red toe nails in her red designer sandals stays late in her office sometimes. I know she is sending messages about weak people to the powers-that-be. I was her tortured victim too many times, too many times but I surrvived. Did I mention that I’m no longer weak?
I’m good at waiting, did I tell you that too? Good, so very good at waiting; waiting for everyone else to leave, waiting until it’s really quiet, waiting until the only sound in the building is her voice on the phone. She thinks she’s safe here.
And I’m quiet; as quiet as the smallest, weakest creatures must be so that they are not observed by predators. But I am not weak, no, not anymore.
I told you that already, didn’t I?
I breathe slowly and soundlessly like a tiny animal in the night who knows its very existence depends on silence. My silence is my strength.
Oh, I am quiet, pitch-perfect quiet, as I stand here waiting and holding my shiny new hammer.
The ugly, crooked, splayed legs and bright red disgusting toe nails of Louise in her designer red sandals are alone in the building now…except for me. Alone, Louise, Louse-y Louise; all alone. Louise?
Who’s the weak one now?
Louse-y Louise has a lot of red to match her ugly red toe nails in their red designer sandals. Lots of red. Everything matches now. I said she needed more red, remember? Red matted in her hair, red dripping from her nose; red running down her face and chin from where her head was cracked open. Red! Red, red, liquid red. A puddle of red that keeps coming and coming.
Did I tell you that I’m no longer weak?
Kristen Houghton writes “nice little horror stories” guaranteed to make you check your locks and look under the bed before going to sleep. Her book, Stolen Property-Tales of Terror, is in pre-publication. She is currently at work on the Catherine Harlow, Private Investigator series where her detective encounters plenty of horrors of her own. The first in the series is due to be published in late 2013.
Kristen is the former head writer and fiction editor of Mused Literary Magazine. Besides blogging for The Huffington Post, her portfolio includes a weekly column for the new, innovative TwoDayMag.com, writing for More Magazine, the San Francisco Examiner, and various others in print and online magazines. She also writes under the name CK Houghton.
Kristen Houghton is the author of the following popular books:
No Woman Diets Alone - There's Always a Man Behind Her Eating a Doughnut
And Then I’ll Be Happy! Stop Sabotaging Your Happiness and Put Your Own Life First
Remember, Hetty? (A YA Ghost Story)
A California girl at heart, she and her husband, Alan, reside in the New York City area which is “magical.” For more about Kristen, her books and short stories, please visit HERE
