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)
