Ghost Story
Never there
not
what you seem,
in anyone's house,
century, galaxy, dream,
mid-air
mid-air
in steampunk nightmare,
where osseous cab horses
where osseous cab horses
shy and rear;
you disappear,
and I feed the empty handcuffs
to the mirror.
Not there
though we breathed the same air
in that old house, old slum
old country, year,
but finally
only here.
June 2011
Posted for Friday Flash 55 at the G-Man's
Posted for Friday Flash 55 at the G-Man's
Image: Fairy Tale Ghost, by Jeroen Kransen on flick'r
Never there
ReplyDeleteNot There
Only Here
sounds like the story of my life
hmm ghosts
I've read this half a dozen times just cos I love the way it is put together, the way it sounds. Is this the Hedgewitchian form, then?
ReplyDeleteFunny how someone so hard to pin down, such a shape-shifting Houdini, could seem to sit on one's heart and never so much as get up for a glass of water.
PS--I'm lovin those cab horses rearing.
I'm coming back to re-read...there is so much here to savor! I adore your poem!
ReplyDeletedang...yo flow aint low go its high test blow past the rest with finger licken flame spitting i-mag-ree...i did not even know osseus was a word...like the empty hand cuffs too...BOO!
ReplyDeleteYou could write any genre like a Pro...
ReplyDeleteAnd you DO!
Loved your Steampunk 55 JA...
You could teach this shit.
Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Week-End
I feed the empty handcuffs
ReplyDeleteto the mirror.
That is so damn cool.
I like how the ghostly feeling persists in this...
ReplyDeletevitally bereft
Such a great ethereal 55! Very nicely penned.
ReplyDeleteSo, I have to wonder if the loss of leaving the one that haunts was the most haunting part of all.
ReplyDelete"steampunk nightmare" dang, love that one especially, though the whole 55 is a divine read. Very cool photo as well. Always nice to visit Verse Escape ~
ReplyDeletefeeding empty hand cuffs to the mirror...love this...steampunk nightmare and then gone...good or bad...?
ReplyDeleteLove those 'osseous cab horses'. Very creepy. I like it!
ReplyDeleteMy 55 are here
Some ghosts are confined to a specific space and often we remember them only when we return to that same spot. Cool 55!
ReplyDeleteA fine rout of the "steampunk nightmare," that which is apparition only to the handcuffed one in the mirror. A delightful, fascinating, satisfying read. Who ya gonna call, when the ghoul wobbles the synapses of fear like hot-lime jello? Hedgewitch, of course. Hey, if you can't believe in god, then every external spookhouse is a fraud, too. Boo goo's deep, but not divine. Insane applause from the salt asylum. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteMany thanks all, for taking the time to visit, read and comment.
ReplyDelete@FB No kidding! No rest for the wraithlike, I guess.
@Brendan: Thank you for reading, and for the applause from the beautiful salt empire which you have made an asylum--hopefully in the best sense of the term. ;_)
This one chills to the bone.
ReplyDeleteWowzers, you blew the roof off with this one!
ReplyDeleteYou managed to work 'steampunk' into a poem- that in itself deserves a special kind of award!
ReplyDeleteAwesomeness, Hedgewitch. Pure awesomeness.
never there,Yet so much here!
ReplyDeleteChilllssss... I am outta here..shhhhhh!!
ReplyDeleteVery eerie and so well done. I love the love and the words you've used. Worth multiple reads!
ReplyDeleteHere's mine today:
Flash Friday 55 ~ You Brighten My Day
Love the flow ~ not the love...wasn't feeling the love :-) ~Karis
ReplyDelete@CK HA! That shows you're sane, then.
ReplyDeleteThanks all for your time and for the pleasure of reading your own 55's.
I love this, hedgewitch. I've been to those types of haunted places...the energy remains as if it's both contained and expanded.
ReplyDeleteVisited Savannah, GA a few weeks back and went on two ghost tours. My girls swear I caught something with my camera... I'm not sure, but I KNOW I felt something at one of the homes...
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this mirror-shards of rhyme, and the wide girth of what is left to us with the psychological residue of ghosts, once and future. That "steampunk" is inspired, reminding me of steam trunk, and conjuring much nostalgia, which ghosts always do for me, all that old oak and attic.
ReplyDelete