Bruce M. Whealton is our December 2009 Featured Poet
You can email Bruce at bm.whealton@yahoo.com
RIVERS OF BLOOD
Only the Vampire
knows what happened
tasted the
blood
of hundreds
and walked away
an unknown predator.
You've seen the carnage
needed to understand
and
believe you had
your guilty party...
needed to forget the blood
-
the reality of what you faced.
It's much easier to prosecute
what can be
captured
than face what is truly evil.
You've walked away
from many a victim
that you could
not save
and found comfort in your lies.
You've even believed in those lies...
believing you've
ended the reign
of terror... rather than admit
that Evil still
walks
your streets.
I DREAMED I WAS A GHOST
I dreamed I was a ghost,
Seeking you… screaming your
name.
But you would not answer.
I could not find you.
I was alone,
An invisible spectator…
Watching
everything around me,
Unable to be heard or seen,
Haunting the once
familiar spaces.
Now haunted – terrified - by the strangeness
Of it
all.
THE NAME
His name is like
an incantation,
a magic
spell,
so afraid I am
to even say it.
No, it is a curse
and
something profane
all the same...
I heard that name
today and heard myself
saying that
name
and it felt like I've committed
some grave sin
and that I
should seek the Sacrament
of “Penance and Reconciliation”
from the
Church.
While not normally given
to such magical
thinking,
or belief in curses or incantations,
I did feel different
today afterward,
and for a while
I couldn't get that face
out of
my mind...
I felt anxious
expecting something bad
to
happen...
and the world felt different -
a bit more
unfriendly
and frightening...
and I felt alone and vulnerable.
But since I shared this poem,
I felt a little
better,
a little more relaxed.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOLLOWING POEM:
Background note on poem: “Courtland Smith died after being shot by an Archdale police officer. Smith had called 911 threatening suicide, and adding that he had a gun and had been drinking.” For a full story read here:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5880002/
The following poem is inspired by the Angel of Death series of poems by Jean Jones, who was The Horror Zine's November Selected Poet 1. Read more of the Angel of Death poems by Jean Jones here:
THE ANGEL OF DEATH OFFERS CONSOLATION
The Angel of Death approached Courtland
as he stood
holding a drink
alone, crying, hoping no one would see him.
"Let's go for a ride."
"Who are you?"
"Someone who loves you,
who understands you
and what
you are going through."
"I can't see your face."
"That's okay; I can see you."
So they got in his car
and began a long talk
as
Courtland drove through
the dark streets.
Observers would have said
he was alone
in the car but Courtland would have
told them
differently...
he would have told of a beatiful woman
riding with
him.
"They don't understand you
and won't take you
seriously...
Go ahead...
Call 911 and tell them what you are going
to do!"
"I can't do it."
"Go ahead, call them, you'll see.
They don't understand
you like I do...
No one ever will..."
So he did call 911.
The Angel of Death kept speaking to him
as he
drove,
as he became more desperate.
"There's only one way you can be
with me forever," the
Angel of Death told Courtland.
"I can't do it," he answered.
"They're not going to take you seriously
just because
you cry.
Make them understand the depth of your pain...
Tell them
you have a gun with you
and you're ready to end your life now.
Then
they'll listen."
So, he told them 911 operator
just what the Angel of
Death had said.
The next several moments
he spent listening to the 911
operator
in one ear
and the Angel of Death in the other,
until
all he could hear
was the soothing hypnotic voice
of the Angel of
Death.
When he came to a traffic light
he didn't hear the
police telling him
to stay in the car.
"Do you really want to be with me,
forever?" the Angel
of Death asked him.
"Then take this and go.
Go ahead. You can
do it.
They'll remember you now!"
The next sounds to be heard
were from the
police.
Four gunshots.
"Shots fired."
"Man down."
Bruce M. Whealton
Bruce Whealton and Scott Urban (Scott was The Horror Zine's September 2009 Featured Poet) recently collaborated on a collection of poems titled Puncture Wounds that focused on Vampires and Vampirism. Bruce co-edits Word Salad Poetry Magazine (http://wordsaladpoetrymagazine.com/ with Jean Jones (The Horror Zine's November 2009 Selected Poet 1). Bruce has been the co-editor and publisher of Word Salad Poetry Magazine since 1995. Word Salad Poetry Magazine is in its fifteenth year of publication.
Bruce's poetry has been published in lines written w/a razor, Gravity Hill and Simple Vows Anthology (both St. Andrews College Press), Venus Rising, Port City Poets (published by the Wilmington Star News), Childe Bryde, the thin edge of staring, Chance Magazine, and Lunatic Chameleon.