LAND OF A MILLION GHOSTS
Long before Salem witches
Ghosts roamed the Great Plains
Natives respect dark shadows
No battles at stroke of midnight
Fields of a thousand voices
Hide behind rows of darkness
Stories ride fertile valleys
Whisper across dusty trails
In sparse conditions
Spirits occupy all corners
Footprints call like thunderstorms
Voices from void scream on the range
Each blade of corn and grass
Transforms in moonlit sky
Those who find a signal
Silent and scared to death
Every year more arrive
From crowed graves and cities
Lost roaming herds grown larger
In great Midwest gathering
EYE TO EYE
You and creature
See eye-to-eye
For first time
You from good eye
Creature
Seeing the one
It’s eating
TWO TANKA
captain on sea ship
travels familiar voyage
friends and family
no clue he’s dumping bodies
from above Challenger Deep
engine stalls midair
falling straight down toward land
know your family
will have nothing to bury
as you crash on mars
YOUNG CHILD STORY
Young child so happy
Tomorrow moving to place
Many miles away
Parents bought new house
Now will be rid of monsters
Underneath the bed
Father and mother
Help carry boxes to room
Unpack afterwards
First night in many
Able to sleep restfully
With head uncovered
Monday after school
Sees large present on table
Hoping toys inside
Later that evening
Father carries to child’s room
Smiles said, “Thank you Dad.”
Downstairs his parents
Wonder what’s inside the box
Delivered today
Curious about
Capital M on bottom
Upstairs hear surprise |
Denny E. Marshall has had art, poetry, and fiction published. Recent credits include cover art for Bards And Sages Quarterly Jan. 2017 and poetry in Space And Time #126 Winter 2016. His flash fiction story “The Window” was published by Sci Phi Journal and is on the Tangent Online 2016 Recommended Reading List, a review magazine for short SF & fantasy.
See more at www.dennymarshall.com.
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