POETRY BY JOSEPH V. DANOSKI

Joseph V. Danoski is a writer of letters and essays on diverse subjects, with strong opinions on many topics. A poet of horror, science fiction, and fantasy; he has been published in journals and webzines both in the USA and abroad.

Various publications include Scavenger’s Newsletter, Pegasus, Red Owl, The Ultimate Unknown, Penny Dreadful, Pivot, Psychopoetica (UK), The Nocturnal Lyric, The Quest (India), The Aurorean, The Mentor & Masque Noir (Australia), Twilight Ending, Talvipaivanseisaus (Finland), The Romantics Quarterly, Hadrosaur Tales, Endemoniada, Northern Stars Magazine, Taj Mahal Review (India) The NeoVictorian/Cochlea, The Eclectic Muse (Canada), Frisson, Black Petals, Outer Darkness, Yellow Mama, Sanitarium Magazine, and The Horror Zine.

THE NORTHERN MIGRATION OF SOULS

See dim lights in the winter mist,
Figures amid the trees and drifts;
The dancers where the branches twist,
Calling me to their midnight tryst.

Coming closer when winds blow cold,
Close and closer as I grow old;
Those shapes and ghosts of driven snow
Dancing now out my night window.

They ride the north winds without form,
And cry from wings of winter storm—
The northern migration of souls unborn,
Searching for homes where hearts are warm.

The northern migration of souls
Are the birds just south of Heaven;
Hellspawn from lost battlefields,
Now the angels to Valhalla.

Ice Princess with the kiss of death
Who takes away your one last breath;
She comes from lands of ice and pole
To snatch another life and soul.

She promises to keep you warm,
And give you shelter from the storm;
Soft whispers in the winter wind,
And silken mists that pull you in.

Lost in depths of blinding white,
Eternally searching for the light—
Your voice now joins the howl of storm,
The northern migration of souls unborn.

CASTLE IN THE CLOUDS

There was a castle in the clouds that sat like a crown,
On the head of a mountain overlooking the town.
A palace of magic with a dragon on its crest;
A drawbridge and dungeon
With a damsel in distress.

Well I grew restless and felt my empty existence,
When I thought of what she offered me in the distance.
I’d hear her calling my name every night and day,
Like a lovely Lorelei, luring me away.

So I left my little village of family and friends,
To begin my life’s journey into predestined ends.
Through woodlands, through wastelands,
I strayed from the beaten track.
The Furies had accursed me, there was no turning back.

I kept to myself, and yet met with much resistance,
Following voices of visions into the distance.
I’d hear them whispering my name in the wind and rain,
Like a lonely Siren song, driving me insane.

There were times when I lost my way for hours or years;
Where I couldn’t see my feet through my fingers and fears.
It could be damnation, I thought, or eternal bliss;
But felt certain my life had been leading up to this.

It took my last ounce of strength, perseverance and will,
To reach that promised castle at the top of the hill.
My palace of magic with the damsel in distress,
It turned out, was a big house all clean and clinical.

No dragons, no drawbridge at the ending of my quest;
Just a sign saying, Home to the Mentally Ill.

DETROIT JURASSIC

Old Pontiac rolling down the road
Like a dying dinosaur;
A wounded classic out of the past,
Whose engine’s lost its mighty roar.

The sleek design of a bygone breed,
Still alive for one more ride;
A survivor in these changing times,
Detroit Jurassic built with pride.

Roll back the years to a golden age,
Before cheap and foreign made;
When dragster racing was all the rage,
And leather jackets made the grade.

Old Indian rattling up the road
In a battered Cherokee;
He once was a weekend warrior,
Now last stand with a broken knee.

Life was muscle cars and lover’s lanes,
Drive-in theaters and hot rods;
Cool were the rebels without a cause,
Racing the clock to beat the odds.

Whether 6 cylinder or V8,
2.2 or 4 at best;
We pushed production to cutting edge,
And put the limits to the test.

Old factory closing in our town,
Laying off two-thousand men;
We fade away into better days,
To be remembered now and then.

We fade away into yesterdays
Of time was and remember when.