GHOST SHIP
Mizzen mast rimed with salt spray
Tattered sails flap like Death’s shroud
As the vessel ploughs midnight seas
A skeleton crew aboard
A horror in the hold
Satan at the wheel
Seeking souls on storm-swept seas
To see it is to die
Turn your face from storm-lashed horizon
To see it is to die
VACANT POSSESSION
Wizard sends soul soaring
Swimming through starry vistas
Far from mortal world
And strange.
Silvery thread guides the way
Homeward-bound through the starry seas
Returning to their mortal shell
Occupied.
Staring at them with distorted features
Demon laughs at their discomfort
Snaps silver string, banishes them, gains
Vacant possession.
LAMIA
As her tail coils about my body
So desire coils about my heart
It may be foolishness to love her
Yet I know we can never part
Perhaps I delude myself
That something such as she can feel
The sensation of selfless love
Yet I am certain our love is real
So, I slip willingly into her arms
Accept her proffered embrace
Whether a moment or a lifetime
It is her that I shall face
THE GHOST AND THE TREASURE
Once a year
A spirit appears above its burial mound
Legend says
The ghost knows the location of a treasure
If only
Someone dares to enquire of it
One day
A warrior boldly approaches the mound
He waits
As darkness falls to blacken the scene
It appears
He steps forward to question it
It speaks
He is found dead the next day |
D. J. Tyrer is the person behind Atlantean Publishing, was placed second in the 2015 Data Dump Award for Genre Poetry, and has been published in The Rhysling Anthology 2016, issues of Cyaegha, Frostfire Worlds, The Horrorzine, Illumen, Outposts of Beyond, Scifaikuest, Sirens Call, Star*Line, Tigershark and The Yellow Zine, and online at Grievous Angel, Lonesome October, and Three Drops from a Cauldron, as well as releasing several chapbooks, such as The Tears of Lot-49. The echapbook One Vision is available from Tigershark
You can find D. J. HERE
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