Her Dark Rein
Deep
beneath
her still heart
darkness awakes
from her crypt she rises into the night
terror shrieks through the darkening sky
blood falls like rain
where she walks
until
dawn
Her Dark Rein
The Spiders Den
A web of dark mystery
As usual, I love watching how you seemingly go about these poems with complete ease. When I attempt such an exhibition, my fingers dawdle about on the keyboard, unsure of the next move.
What I like, what I’m really jealous about is playfulness here. I can’t write shape poems. Don’t know why. And then there’s your play on words with
“reign” (which is covert and stealthy), which for me, leads toward the tone of the piece. Like sophisticated wine, your tone here is varied and changes in the light. Tip it to the left, and the light plays off your poem with a twinkle; tip it to the right, and the shadows stain it marvelously. That’s the dexterity I’m well used to seeing in your poems. Bravo.
The last four lines feature a compression of action, of deeds, of supernatural rules (especially those
erected in the word “dawn” itself).
I give you huge points for working with what I believe is an underworked archetype. Sure, I know we have books printed in the 20th and 21st century that attempt to handle a powerful female vampire type, but they always let me down in the end (as if an all powerful female power broker must be punished with disintegration and death for her sins). I’ll scoot my Lady Death comics aside now to include your archetype on the bookshelf as well (that was supposed to be a compliment).
I’ll be looking for more poems like this by you, so if you have links (and I think you do), please throw them at me.
By the way, before I forget: Great poem!
You always do me great honor, and it is a pleasure to hear from you, thank you for your thoughts on this poem. One thing I find difficult about the vampire poem is trying not to sound cliche about it.
Just a quick p.s.
On the avoidance of cliche….I often wonder if it’s ok in the case of something we really love. I mean, I can watch (as I know you can to) the classic movies of this genre over and over and never get tired of them. So, I wonder if perhaps the vampire as archetype is not only invulnerable to mortal death, but also invulnerable to death by cliche????? It does give one food for thought.
I admit I can be cliche at times in my work, but well I have read vampire poems others have wrote, and there was just something lacking in them, which I wanted to aviod. I thirsted for the need of something different to stand a part from the rest. I didn’t wnat “just another vampire poem”