POETRY BY JOE R. LANSDALE

Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale has written novels and stories in many genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense. He has also written for comics as well as "Batman: The Animated Series." As of 2020, he has written 50 novels and published more than 30 short-story collections (maybe 40 by now) along with many chapbooks and comic-book adaptations. His stories have won ten Bram Stoker Awards, a British Fantasy Award, an Edgar Award, a World Horror Convention Grand Master Award, a Sugarprize, a Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, a Spur Award, and a Raymond Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been inducted into The Texas Literary Hall of Fame, and several of his novels have been adapted to film.

You can learn more about Joe HERE

THE WATER DID TUMBLE

The water did tumble
The wind it did blow
Trees cracked and trembled
fell into the roads

The flood it was awful
The sky was so black
Concrete broke, crumbled
filled up the paths

The water did tumble
The wind it did blow
Trees cracked and trembled
fell into the roads

Along came the water,
in a continuous roll
and away went my darling
to the river below

Nothing left,
but the death of the sun
The stars go out
and the water does run
She’s down there forever
In a continuous roll
Bones without memories
Just a damp little soul

The water did tumble
The wind it did blow
And away went my darling
to the river below

THEY

They danced in the kitchen
Danced in the hall
Danced on the ceiling
and didn’t fall

They came from an order
out of a magazine
comic book paper
bright and clean

Came in a box
with a big red stamp
but others came later
without any pants

Some showed up
driving semi rigs
a few parachuted in
to dance their jigs

I wish I hadn’t ordered
because now they want stop
they won’t quit dancing
to the hot be-bop

My father said
they had to go
he shot them up
from head to toe

He called the company
to seriously complain
the company flew folks in
by charter plane

They wrapped up the bodies
gave back our stolen shoes
whipped out the dead
while they sang the blues

They wiped up the floor
with bleach coated rags
returned my money
that I gave to Dad

Late that night
when I climbed in bed
I found one under the sheets
a smile in his head

I wasn’t up to it
but what you gonna do
I beat it to death
with an old track shoe

The bed is all bloody
my arm is so tired
I took the thing to the toilet
to give it a ride

I slept on the floor
on a thick woven rug
dreamed of them dancing
in tight little hugs

All those legs moving
fast and obscene
I ordered them again
from a new magazine

IN THE SWEET MOONLIGHT

The Moon rolls over pond water
a wet lunar sprawl
Clouds blow
A frog watches from a lily pad
as darkness
covers the lake
One firefly defies it
the clouds roll by
Moonlight freed
Beneath the moon-coated water
a body
white and bloated
caught up in flowing dark weeds

MOUSE IN THE CORNER

Mouse in the corner
lion in the hall.
Mouse is sneaky,
creeps under the door,
next to the wall.
Lion sniffs something,
considers it.
Damn if he isn’t certain
it’s the smell of mouse shit.
He turns his head,
sees the mouse.
Mouse says excuse me,
is this your house.
No said the lion,
but sometimes,
I eat here.
And he did.