zine
shadow
HOME  ABOUT  FICTION  POETRY  ART  SUBMIT  NEWS  MORBID  ZINES  ODDITIES  BEWARE  CONTACT  WITCHES  GHOSTS  MARK.LUKENS  BOOKS  FILMS   HELLBOUND  STAFF
Patricia Stover

The November Editor's Pick Poet is Patricia Stover

Please feel free to email Patricia at: authorp.stover@gmail.com

patricia

FEAR

It’s the long, black shadows
that creep up the wall.
Or the coyote’s howl
outside your bedroom window.
It’s a foot hanging over the edge,
cold breath on your neck.
The crow cawing from
the headstone of a freshly dug grave.
A child’s laughter
when no one is around.
A spider in your bed.
A snake in your shed.
The clown at the carnival.
A red balloon.

TWISTER AND THE CONVICT

A storm came today.
The blackened sky fell and twisted. I held
You and watched from the distance. My
Heart quaked. The heartless air moved in. I ran,
you on my hip. But each turn
I looked; another funnel appeared.
Sucking, with its
coned mouth. Nowhere
to run. No one there.
Unable to protect you. Unable to
Flee. Trapped.

A door opened beneath the dirt
and everything I knew
was there. Waiting.
But his striped suit
and his chained ball
were there. A swinging,
spiked, thing. Blood covered mouth.
A giant.
Smashing everyone who came near.
The storm raging, chasing.
Ball swinging.

We had to go.
Had to move under the earth.
I carried your weight as far and wide as I could.
I ran, you on my hip,
my arm aching.
Feet tired.
I had to escape the swinging chain,
The cold, sharp metal.

It had to be you and me.

PREY IN THE DARK

He lurks in shadows dark
Until you pass his sinful way.
Waiting for a target pure to punish,
And take along for prey.
The moment has to be just right
To keep his object veiled.

For if his victim is not veiled
His evil plight let out the dark.
And what once was wrong now right
Is left to cast away.

With no more souls to prey
Left once again in the dark
And on his lonely way.

He’ll keep his form just right
No soul shall step his way
Or they will be now veiled
And only see the dark,
For now they'll be the prey.

Do not become his prey
For it would not be right.
You would hate to see the dark
And be hidden from the light,
Underneath the veil
And never get away.

But not to get away
And be the preyer’s prey,
Be underneath the veil
That may be just right.
Some like to be punished
And give into the fight.
Alone in the dark
Cast into the night.

 

Patricia Stover is a horror author from Oklahoma. Her short stories have been published in Scout Media’s anthologies.

You can find her work online HERE