A Few Meditations on Monsters

Ah, Halloween, my favorite time of year.  The ghosts and ghouls are abroad in the chilling autumn air.  In the spirit of the season, I have taken some time to muse upon some of the classic creatures of horror.  Enjoy!

Modern Prometheus

A Pantoum

Blackness as far as my eyes can see
I am lost in the gentle waves at the bottom of an abyss
Perchance be that a light, dim and out of reach?
All I know is I am alone and afraid

I am lost in the gentle waves at the bottom of an abyss
Please, for the love of god, help me!
All I know is I am alone and afraid
Emptiness surrounds me

Please for the love of god, help me!
A scent of metal on stagnant air, the taste of decayed ink upon my tongue
Emptiness surrounds me
I wish to leave this horrid place

A scent of metal on stagnant air, the taste of decayed ink upon my tongue
Lightning crackles in the distance
I wish to leave this horrid place
Am I man or be I monster?

Lightning crackles in the distance
I awaken from my slumber.  Is this the work of the gods?
Am I man or be I monster?
A man before me proclaimes, "It's alive!"

I awaken from my slumber, I this the work of the gods?
Perchance be that a light, dim and out of reach?
A man before me proclaimes, "It's alive!"
Blackness as far as my eyes can see

A Meeting of Strangers

His sensual voice spoke softly, sweet nothings, promises of overwhelming joy into her ear, this man with such powerful presence and reserve.  Be still my aching heart, she thought as the gentle thump, thump, thump began to drown out all the sounds of the night.  Their eyes met and in an instant she felt faint.  As some gallant knight of old, he swooped in and with powerful arms grasped her trembling form as she melted to the floor.
"I have you, my pretty little thing," he gently cooed.
Love's sweet kiss came to her full, flush lips.  Blood rushed up to her faces this wonderful man brought love's tender bite down to her slender neck and drained life right through her open vein.

Purim

Jared stared intensely at the television screen.  He looked down at the paper in his trembling hands, back up at the high definition image and again at those numbers prominently displayed within his clenched palms.  Jared's once proud jaw hung open in astonished disbelief.  Tears welled up in his shining green eyes.
To his right, Cindy jumped to her feet and screamed.  Unable to contain herself, she ran into their shared bedroom of twenty some odd years.  From the living room, Jared could hear Cindy's rhythmic thumping on the hardwood floors.  This was the end of an era, he thought.  Nothing in their lives could or would ever be the same and he hardly knew how he should feel about it all.  Certainly he could understand Cindy's reaction and to this he could hardly blame her for her ill contained excitement.  The dreams Jared and Cindy had held for so long of a comfortable life free from the hard labors of a daily job full of stress and woe were so close at hand.
With a swift and decisive movement, Jared rose from the couch, turned off the television set and sat himself into the armchair of his home office desk.  This is where he was still to be found by the police the next morning, opened bottle of Macallan close at hand and nearly finished, gun half-cocked and too cowardly to fire.  Cindy had gone, packed with all the affects she could carry and vanished into the night.  He'd see her again most like.  A litany of financial documents before him, his sins laid bare for all the world to see, his sterling reputation shattered.  I am going to hang for this, he thought.  What terrible lies I've wrought, to think I could play a lottery with peoples' lives, most befitting that I should win the most deserving prize of all.

A Memory in Déjà Vu

“A One Man Performance Piece”

Have we met before? Have I been here?

I am certain that I remember having seen and been and done and used the things I now am quite unsure of.

Or am I?

I know that I don't know but we have, haven't we? No? Are you sure?

Because I am positive I would remember and I do. Don't you?

You say you do but now I don't so who's to say whom remembers rightly or wrongly?

You're wrong. We haven't met before.

I would have known if I knew you before I met you here just now but earlier.

But I've definitely been here before. Of that I'm certain. I think.

What was the question?