6 poems for Halloween :)

Happy Halloween everyone! Here are some of my poems about aliens, haunted houses, ghosts, murder and all those spooky things... and the last one really happened. Have a fun night :)

UFO

A strange glow through my bedroom window

Woke me from my twilight dreaming

Rubbing my eyes I heaved on my slippers

Stumbling across the floor to glance outside

A yellow-green glow chased across the lawn

Dark shapes dotted all the lit spaces

Little green men with melon-shaped heads

Staggering with six arms and four stumpy legs

Heading towards me they wiggled as they walked

Tripping on stones and bobbing their faces

A dark green glow swimming among their heads

Carrying strange pointed objects I’ve never seen

Gripping the curtain I tried not to fall over

With laughter or fright, I’m really not sure

Not believing my eyes, I lay down to sleep

Swearing never to eat cheese before bed again

Nightmares

If I scream

Will it drown everything

That frightens me

In the silent dark?

Amputated limbs

Red scrawls of blood

Eight-legged freaks

Impenetrable mists

Running into infinity

With darkness chasing

Fast behind me, it

Comes closer, enveloping

Feet lose their grip

Bridges just give way

Falling in slow motion

Nothing passes through

My mind goes blank

Sinking through the air

The ground draws near

And I wake

Horror

Darkness stands behind me

Raging above in a bright

Inferno – let it fall,

Drown me in this sea

Of wrath, draining

In screams of muteness

Red blood dancing in streams

Smother me in this warmth

A passion that knows no end

But in the blackness of the dark

Words are silent

Footsteps in the rain

She walked into the path of oncoming traffic

Lights flashed her blind in the pitch darkness

Heading her way they swerved to the side

Their horns screeched like cats, radios blared

The night ached a thousand lived memories

She walked barefoot, her feet cut but soundless

Like a dreamer who had long ceased to dream

The stars glistened high above like fairy lights

Dazzling in the night sky, so quiet their beauty

Unravished by life, uncorrupted, so pure, fine

Her eyes squinted to improve their clarity

They shone so brilliantly, like ice against black

She had wandered far, not knowing the distance

Far, far, a long way from home and her people

Seated around a wooden table, food cooking

Amid warm smells of crisp, burning wintry heat

She could imagine them laughing and grinning

Their teeth glinting in the lights as they spoke

Blood dripping on their plates, their eyes red

Clawed fingernails gripping the edges so taut

Their wild hair flicked as they wailed and groaned

Enough! This she did not miss, could never miss

So now her escape was final, desolation dismissed

The blood could stay chilled and frozen like ice

Away from her, hidden in those dark, darkest eyes

Closing her eyelids, she flicked away the memory

The road was cold, the rain was starting again

Tap, tap, tap, the lights danced in the water

Her toes flicked little glistening drips into the air

She grinned at such a simple, honest thing

Memories of a life forgotten, once lived before

In the time long ago, in a time she lived once

The horns continued to sound, high-pitched wines

Too high, shattering the quiet of the still night

She turned her head to scowl, unseen in the dark

Determined, she walked on, oblivious to the cold

Heading towards the noisy, bustling flow of cars

She had no fear of them or their terrifying roar

They sounded their horns but they could not see her

Blinded as they were to the dead thing walking.

The dark wood

In the deepest depths of the dark wood

See the spectre trees stand and stare

Stretching out their bony fingers

To trip up weary wanderers who dare

Go freely into the unknown air.

In the deepest depths of the dark wood

Catch the ghostly moonlight crossings

Of the languid shapes that sink and shift

Floating endlessly in the speckled frosting

That lies in sheets on the muddy ground.

In the deepest depths of the dark wood

Hear the plaintiff wails of the ever lost

Stuck in time along the virgin paths

Caught in the lair of the unseen host

Who travels alone with his silent scream.

In the deepest depths of the dark wood

Keep your wits about you in the night shade

Lest you wander too far from the spectre trees

And find yourself far from the grassy glade

Beneath the ever-present smiling moon.

The haunted house (from a child's perspective)

At the end of the street

Where the road curves round

It sits and frowns

Seems to stare out loud

It’s the haunted house

But nobody knows

Except me

There’s a thing inside

But nobody knows

Except me

I don’t know what it looks like

As it’s never appeared

It just breathes

When no-one else is around

A dark, brooding sound

Unlike anything living

A deep breathing sound

That makes me still

I cannot move

When it appears

I cannot leave

When I want to run

It’s in the haunted house

But nobody knows

Except me

Sometimes I walk upstairs

And it stops me

Breathing silently

A shiver down my spine

Sometimes it waits for me

In my room at night

Behind the curtains bright

Waiting to scare me

I check under the bed

In the dark cupboard

That can hold three men

If it needed to

But I never see anything

And never find anything

It doesn’t want to show

Itself to anyone

It’s in the haunted house

But nobody knows

Except me

I tried to tell my mum

She didn’t want to believe

As she’s seen figures

Heard ghostly things

But there’s nothing here

She said to calm me down

There’s no-one here

Except you and me

One day it waited

Behind the front door

For me to come home

Waited so patiently

As I put my key in the lock

I could hear it breathe

From behind the door

Welcoming me

‘Happy to see you home’

It seemed to say

‘Come inside and play

With the unseen one’

So I stayed outside

Scared out of my wits

Playing with my keys

Til my mum came home

It’s the haunted house

But nobody knows

Except me.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone

These poems and others are contained in two of my poetry books, Travelling Light (free) and Kaleidoscope ($2.99/£1.99)