The November Editor's Pick Poet is Mathias Jansson
Please feel free to email Mathias at: mathiasjansson72@gmail.com
NATTRAMN
It was a magic summer night
the sunlight would never disappear
I walked with easy steps
in the deep forest of Sweden
I was only an innocent child
a playful boy
with rosy cheeks
when suddenly I heard
a terrible scream
a scream that
shook marrow and bone
From the forest a shadow
a big black raven
on its way from west to east
flew low against me
his wing touched my cheek
I could feel the cold stroke
like a bony finger of ice
before I fainted away
When I woke
I felt stiff and tired
I could hear
my parents whispering
with fear
—Nattramn, Nattramn
the dark raven of the night
the ghost of a unborn child
has stolen his life
And my mom was crying
—His youth has been taken away
now he is old and dying.
THE CHURCH GRIM
Under the cornerstone sleeping
buried is the guard of the sacred
the church grim waiting
listening when the shadows falls
over the silent cemetery
A sound of broken glass
a glimpse of a flashlight searching
the secret guardian rises
shakes his fur full of dirt
stretches his old rigid bones
yawn with a terrible grin
seeks with eyes of burning hell
the one who disturbed his sleep
Bent over the church silver
a simple burglar at the altar
a terrible scream echoes
in the night
and walls are stained with blood
Christ looks down from his cross
at the black creature
chewing and eating
on a bloody flesh bag
once resembled a man.
HULDER
He saw a sneaking shadow in the forest
a shy creature only dressed
in moonlight and mist
with long blond hair
and tempting blue eyes
He foolish followed her
finally caught her
leaning her back
against and old oak
With desire he embraced
her nude firm body
and found a rotten tree
filled with crawling bugs
spiders and millipedes
Root and branches entangled him
ivory stretched its green fingers
deep down his throat
into his eyes and ears
paving the way
for thousands of insects
to invade his defenseless body
Years later they found his skeleton
pierced by a tree
in a great circle of oaks
entrapping her other victims.
Mathias Jansson is a Swedish art critic and horror poet. He has been published in magazines as The Horror Zine, Dark Eclipse, Schlock and The Sirens Call. He has also contributed to over 100 different horror anthologies from publishers as Horrified Press, James Ward Kirk Fiction, Source Point Press, Thirteen Press, and others.
You can find Mathias HERE