The April Selected Poet is Ed Blundell
Please feel free to email Ed at: edblundell@talktalk.net
PREMONITION
Gaunt trees against a dull grey sky,
Three magpies sitting on a branch,
Suddenly an air of menace,
An omen that foretells bad times.
A low wind, moaning from the East
Rustling the land beneath still clouds,
Dark harbingers of storms to come.
As threats, as yet unknown unfold,
Something sinister somewhere stirs
And all at once I am afraid.
HALLOWEEN
Masked, cloaked, some fairy frocked, they knocked
On doors demanding “Trick or treat?”
A sweet or two lest mischief comes
From lords and ladies of misrule.
And as they walk the autumn streets,
The fallen leaves stir in the wind,
The twilight shadows stretch and grow,
Pitiless stars stare cold and bright
And something from an older time
Deep in the shadows watches them.
THE RIVAL
I shaped the figure carefully,
I crafted it from wax,
I dressed it to resemble her,
In a coat of bright blue flax.
I hid it in the chimney,
So when they lit the fire,
The doll would slowly soften
And she’d start to perspire.
She’d sweat and feel so dizzy,
She'd tremble and turn pale
And with each day she’d worsen
And grow so thin and frail.
So gradually she’d fade away
Until at last she died,
Gasping and choking for her breath,
With a burning pain inside.
And nobody could prove my guilt,
No evidence was there
But a little ball of melted wax
Charred cloth and some singed hair.
NIGHT
In the evening, thick mist swirling,
Rising from the Thames and curling,
Through the streets of London town,
Above, the blood-red sun sinks down.
In a dingy quarter,
A woman looking to be paid
Meets a man; a deal is made.
“My name’s Sally.”
They walk towards the narrow alley.
He puts his hand upon her back,
And tells her,
“You can call me Jack.”
Ed Blundell worked as a teacher of English, a school inspector and as Director of Education for the Borough of Stockport. He now divides his time between urban Greater Manchester and the wild North Yorkshire moors.
He has published short stories and poetry in a wide range of magazines in the US and UK and has been featured several times in the The Horror Zine.