The POTW: Verse Til It Hurts

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POTW #819
(Week of 28 October, 2012)
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OK, *one* more creepy poem to round out the month of October. Happy Halloween, everybody! (I think I'll have to add this one to the still-in-progress Severed Head Collection, because I have the perfect idea for how to illustrate it.)

The Thing on the Mantel

There's an object on the mantel
Reeking of some ancient scandal
Opportunity mishandled
Trust perverted into doom

Confidence and honor broken
Long past dead and still unspoken
Some dark evil dimly woken
Dankly poisoning the room

All who linger in its shadow
Hollow quickly thin and shallow
Dreams and aspirations fallow
Choking on its sick perfume

Silently it sits and whispers
From some pessimistic scripture
Yearning chafes and mettle blisters
Suppurating rancid gloom

Curse awaiting vindication
Some forgotten incantation
Anticipating consummation
As a bride a murdered groom

Thus it haunts its simple station
Leaking plague and abdication
Festering with resignation
And the tantalizing comfort of the tomb

Copyright © 2012 by Dave Grossman

Permanent link to this entry: http://www.phrenopolis.com/poem/index.php?p=819

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Interested in more? Check out "Ode to the Stuff in the Sink," Dave's illustrated book of "guy" verse (concerning the deeper philosophies of things like not doing the laundry, putting your feet on the furniture, and of course beer) at the Maximegalomporium (our store). And did I mention it was illustrated? Pictures!

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