(Disclaimer: I am submitting this poem for Reena’s Exploration challenge: horror. The poem arose from a nightmare, and my be triggering for some readers.)
They always take the back roads,
virginal snow-covered lanes
lined with trees: pastoral views
Unmarked routes, out of sight,
use the innocence of landscape
to blot out their dark intentions
Pristine picture perfect scenes
lull the unsuspecting; breath-
taking vistas: secret keepers
The roads still exist in my dreams
the trees like soldiers, stiff and stark
stripped of their magical allure, now
guard the memories, painted red
with loss of purity; I had not
guessed the danger of woods
child mind incapable of conceiving
what wolves roamed in nature
the blood of their victims crimson
stains forever etched in silhouette
the shrillness of their screams
now silent echoes in the night.
(Secret Keepers first appeared here September of 2016. Art my own.)
Loving your words and art. As always.
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Thanks Teresa
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A dark and chilling piece! Well rendered, VJ.
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Thanks Eugi!
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Welcome!
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Definitely the stuff of nightmare all too real.
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Yes. It is. Showed it to my therapist and decided not to go there, lol.
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😀
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Beautiful wording to describe something so terrifying!
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Thanks.
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Chilling and terrifying nightmare that sadly may have roots in reality. Masterful poetry!
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Thank you Sue.
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Dark and haunting. Well scribed.
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Thanks Heather.
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Welcome.
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I have no words but I understand this. So well written and so heart wrenching
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Thank you. Difficult subject matter.
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It is indeed. But these things have to be said sometimes.
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Agreed.
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