Pierglass

All Is Vanity by Allan Gilbert

Pierglass

People are funny with mirrors,
We see in them things that were never reflected.
We peer into glasses in gloomy old houses,
And swear that the ghosts of the vain are detected –
Sort of like negative-vampires,
Who can only be seen in their opposite form,
As a shadow that moves on the edge of our sight
When the candlelight blinks in the empty old dorm.
We whisper into the speculum,
And fancy we glimpse at the face of another
From out of the silvery clouds in the tarnish –
A movement, a flicker, our killer, our lover.
We treat them as if they were watching,
To open a portal to trap the unwary.
But deep down we know that they only reflect us –
Perhaps that’s precisely what makes them so scary…

Tyto & Stryx

Photo by DSD on Pexels.com

Tyto & Stryx

I grew up on farms, I knew my barns,
And knew the owls inside.
As paragons of myths and yarns,
They sure did love to hide.
But even with their silent wings, I’d sight
Their calling card,
And know they still clocked-in each night
From pellets round the yard.

The barn owls are the perfect owls,
In look and lore and size.
With heart-shaped masks and earless cowls,
And wisdom in their eyes.
Until, that is, they won’t stay mute,
But let loose with their speech –
And utter not a single hoot,
But a disappointing screech.

I heard the twits and twooing too,
From tawnies in the trees,
But only from a distance, flute and mew,
In two-part harmonies.
Yet round the barns, I only hear the shriek,
Not the trill of charm –
The wrong voice for the owl I seek,
Of the poet of the farm.

Owls, of course, have their own concern,
And do not care for me.
And I should take their lead to learn
To let their natures be.
So when the golden hour is full of cries
I now can grin
As the night-shift owls in the barn arise
And start reporting-in.

Masquerageous

Masquerageous

I’ve heard, before October’s through,
That Jesus dons a pair of horns.
Yet can it be, on Halloween,
He parties like he’s seventeen ?

Do you suppose, the Devil too,
Wears white beneath a crown of thorns ?
With eyes of innocence and calm,
And fake stigmata in his palm ?

And in a nightclub, might they meet
Their mirror-image of yesterday.
Perhaps they’re secretly impressed
With how their counterpart is dressed.

I guess a glance is how they greet,
A silent shock and smirk that say:
“Enjoy my life, and burn it bright –
I shan’t be needing it tonight.”

The Biology of Night

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The Biology of Night

Do you feel the cold nip ?,
Do you feel the dark creep ?,
Do you feel your chest grip,
And lungs rasp, and heart leap ?
Whatever else is in this dark,
You think,
It’s not alone out here –
For it must share this lonely park
With both you and your fear.
You hear that ?  Hark…
Don’t blink,
Don’t make the blood rush through your ear.
Ba-dump, ba-dump,
Your throat a lump,
Your calm but an veneer.
Now all your senses are abuzz,
To ev’ry twitch and sigh –
You only feel alive because
You’re too afraid to die.

Do you bite your numb lips ?,
Do you count each heart thump ?,
Do your prickled fingertips
Clench fast each time your teeth jump ?
Whatever else is in your mind,
You think,
It’s not alone in there –
For it must stalk your misaligned
And overactive lair.
Don’t look behind,
Just blink,
Before your nerves fly ev’rywhere.
Ba-dump, ba-dump,
Your tremors pump,
Your heart recites a prayer.
And yet, be thankful when it does,
For this, at least, is real –
You only feel afraid because
You’re still alive to feel.

Dedication to her Art

Old School Goth by IrenHorrors

Dedication to her Art

She is a Goth in black and pale,
In a daily cosplay, a loudmouth mime –
I muse if the process ever gets stale ?
But she’s on the dole, so I guess she has time.
On the days when I see her looking very boring
Is a day when I think she prob’ly has an interview –
But otherwise, I see her chequered like the flooring,
Posing for commuters as we hurry on through.
In time, I guess, she’ll simply grow out of it,
And land that job where she has to behave,
And sign-up for tennis, as if she never doubted it,
And marry into motherhood, and paint the architrave.
Until, one day, an unexpected photograph,
An over-awed grandchild, and it all comes back –
With a flicker of pride and an unassuming laugh,
And a tale of the daily pale and black.
Am I projecting ?  I think I’m projecting.
But every day, as her statement goes by,
I find myself once more reflecting
On how she’s the only one round here to even try.
Yet surely the Goths are braver when in company,
As freaks together, a performance shared ?
But her mates just slouch in their t-shirts,  grumpily –
And I am no different, I never would have dared…!

Wigging Out

Theatrical wigs, beards, &c. M by Library of Congress is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Wigging Out

Prom queens, drag queens, jugglers, and spies,
Criminals, judges, actors in disguise –
Baldness, boldness, hide or tantalise,
It’s all just a cosplay in the end.

Human or synthetical,
Sacred or heretical –
It’s hair, but theoretical,
Where frank and fancy blend.

In bobs and updo’s, blond and brunette,
In fringe and ringlets, silver and jet,
A lace-front quick-change, no regret –
It’s all just a snatch and a shake.

Compact and collectable,
Increasingly respectable,
From downright undetectable
To fabulously fake !

Cemetery Flowers

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

Cemetery Flowers

Besides from the bunches laid with care,
There’s plenty of blooms around –
Peacefully scenting reverent air
And rising out of the ground.
And looking as though they have always grown there,
Spreading from grave to grave, unbound.

Lilies creep around the edges,
Speedwell bids the souls farewell,
And lichen colours urns and ledges,
Where the lady’s bedstraws dwell
Wrought-iron railings form the hedges,
Butterflies enchant their spell.

Yews, of course, have long been prized,
With folklore running deep,
And cypresses are well-advised
For the greenery they keep,
And Trees of Heaven, naturalised,
Like some who lie asleep.

Wych-hazel makes herself at home,
But cherries are out of place –
Confetti is such a frivolous foam
That doesn’t leave a trace.
Forget-me-nots, meantime, will roam,
Wherever they find a space.

The dead, of course, don’t care what’s living up there,
They’ve other concerns,
But graveyards are gardens we all must share,
Be we friends or weeds or worms.
And ev’ry flower we all can spare
Will help us to come to terms.

I deliberately tried to shake up the rhythm a bit between verses, to see if it could still flow. As for the location, I have visited before here and here (and, more pertinent to the season at hand, over here).

Floriography

Choosing by George Watts

Floriography

I wanted to speak the language of flowers,
Just like my heroines of old.
But how can the secrets of petals be ours
When meeting in Winter’s cold ?
I guess there’s holly and mistletoe,
And snowdrops still to come, perhaps ?
But love, I fear, has yet to grow,
And plenty of time to lapse…

I wanted to win you with floral wooing,
Now that Spring has raised his head –
But tulips are for financial ruin,
And lilies are for the dead.
I guess there’s always the dandelion,
Though who sees the beauty beneath the weed ?
Our love, I fear, is swiftly dying,
Like daffodils gone to seed.

I wanted to cast such blossoming spells,
With Summer so rampant and velveteen –
But buttonhole-sunflowers smother lapels,
And roses come purple and green.
I guess there’s just too much to choose –
Exotic, or native ?  We cannot be both.
So love, I fear, is swamped for a muse,
And trapped in the undergrowth.

I wanted to breathe the tongue of the blooms,
But who remembers the code these days ?
And now that Autumn is blowing our rooms,
It feels too late for bouquets.
I guess, though, dahlias could be for darlings ?
And conkers for fun, and pumpkins for screams ?
For love, I feel, will still find it charming,
Whatever it thinks it all means.

Leaving Inktober behind, there is just time for a seasonal bouquet before things get spook-ay...

Pyrophiles

The 3rd Element – Fire by John Rowe

Pyrophiles

Some plants only germinate through fire,
Waiting out the years
Until the tragedy appears.
They need the forest hotter, tinder dryer,
Even dropping oil
To make a tarpit of the soil.
But there hasn’t been a fire through here, I’m told,
In fifty years of cold –
I guess these trees are all the same-age-old.

Their life-cycle needs the flames be fanned,
They need to taste the char
Before they’ll shoot a single spar.
They need apocalypse to sweep the land
To birth their phoenix seeds,
To grow within the ash of weeds.
And there are even beetles who must birth
Within the hell-scorched earth,
(Though salamanders don’t, for what it’s worth).

Rush

Metronome by Tiffany Bozic

Rush

Ev’rybody’s in a hurry,
So are you, and so am I,
For ev’rybody’s busy-busy
Scurry-scurry, gotta fly,
Now ev’rybody’s in a tizzy,
So am I, and so are you,
Cos ev’ryone, from Skye to Surrey,
Whizzes-round like ballyhoo,
We’ve got to keep the bubbles fizzy,
Got to keep it on the go,
We ain’t got time for worry-worry,
Ain’t got time to say hello,
When ev’rybody’s in a flurry,
Kangarooing, hue and cry,
Till ev’rybody’s downright dizzy,
Sorry, thank-you and goodbye…