The October Selected Poet is Ron Larson

Please feel free to email Ron at: patronlarson@gmail.com

THE AVENGER
(Adapted from a story by Guy de Maupassant)

Levit had gone to school with Souris and Marie,
But he had never let his feelings for her be known,
So when Marie married Souris, he wasn’t pleased.
And for ten years, the couple had a happy home.

Levit always thought Souris was a bit of a dunce,
And he was envious of this fortunate friend.
He would visit, but kept his love interest distant.
Then suddenly Souris’s life came to an end.

After a few months, Levit began wooing her.
When they married, he thought his life was complete.
The pair did not live happily ever after.
She was no longer as pretty as she used to be.

Levit began to compete with the deceased man.
He said: “Souris had never set the Seine on fire.”
Marie would readily agree with her husband,
But her concurrence only increased his ire.

Then he began inquiring about their love making.
By then, Marie had begun taking his hints.
She laughed and said: “It was hardly earth shaking.”
But of her truthfulness, Levit wasn’t convinced.

Then he asked: “Did you ever have another lover?”
She first denied it, but then to please him,
She said: “It took place just once that November.”
Enraged, he called her a lying, cheating woman.

He got up and began pacing in their bedroom.
Levit’s anger increased with each and every step.
Marie then thought maybe a divorce loomed,
So the distraught woman wept. Oh, how she wept!

“Oh, my dear, I thought that’s what you wanted to hear!
So I lied, I was completely faithful to Souris.”
That name reddened him; she was gripped with fear.
He strangled her, and then took the life that was his.

THE OUTSIDER
(Inspired by a story by H.P. Lovecraft)

He was alone; his memory of others was vague.
He no longer saw sunlight; his life was as night.
One thing he remembered was some sort of plague.
His failing eyesight gave him feelings of fright.

He did not know how long he had been there.
Time to him was as meaningless as many things.
He heard nothing but ugly sounds everywhere.
The scratching wharf rats, the flapping bat wings.

He knew there was another world besides this one,
And he was determined to find a passageway out.
Perhaps by following bats, rats, and other vermin,
He could find an exit, refusing to have doubt.

He did just that; he emerged from his hated abode.
He was in a churchyard cemetery, but he was free.
In the moonlight he saw the mansion near the road,
And he could hear the revelers very clearly.

He longed for company, as he had been so lonely,
So he entered the ballroom through a low window.
When they saw him they began to flee instantly.
Some women fainted, such was the mental blow.

Then he saw a being that was hideous beyond belief.
He was fascinated by such a creature of horror.
He neared it, hoping to closely examine this freak.
When he reached to touch it, he touched a mirror.

JOHN BATES
(Inspired by a story by Ambrose Bierce)

He had been prostrated by a sudden fever
Which caused him to cry out for freedom and air.
He soon found himself in a landscape of horror
In which there was silence and grayness everywhere.

He observed a number of weathered headstones.
Then he saw an old man approaching that night or day.
He cried out to him: “Please, sir, I am lost and alone.”
The stranger gave no heed and continued on his way.

He sat near a decayed tree and wondered what to do.
His eyes caught a fresh stone with his name and dates.
He then knew that his new afterlife was far from thru.
Such is the tale told to a medium by one John Bates.

Ron Larson is a retired community college professor (Ph.D.), and one of his hobbies is writing all kinds of poetry. His poem “The Avenger” is an adaptation of a short story by Guy de Maupassant and is included in his book titled 79 More Strange Stories Outlined in Rhyme. The other two poems featured here are from his book titled 66 Classic Horror Stories Outlined in Rhyme.

You can find Ron HERE