A Guinea for the Grand Guignol (Ode to the Classic Horror Story)

for the Weirds of Weird Fiction

A land alone, a shadow out of time,
just for us, darling; the strains of pop music,
the old cliches of roses, moons,
aligned above these old spires...
But what, in all our nightmares and dreamscapes,
revives itself, to darken, steadily,
creeping ivies, gold hinges?

And we, just after sunset, now,
pray to Hypnos, Lurking Fear,
that he may give us,
in our time of dreaded need,
a guide to Jerusalem's Lot,
where a woman in black might find a home,
in Sandalwood, the dark chateau,
alongside Conan and Nero.

Give me your small hand, young fly,
and step inside this tent.
Let us rest ourselves among
these rustic tellers of stories...

The bold accoutrements of gore,
blood and gristle, sex, depravity -
the turn of a screw
in a weeping socket -
"retarded" and "grotesque"...

(A peanut-smelling show with jars
of hands and scalps and eyeless babes,
given each a sagging desk.
'The richness of deformity!'
a wasting barker cries.)  

These the surface decorate
as icing on a birthday cake.

(Memento mori, sweet child.)

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The poem contains several references to stories by famous writers in the horror/"weird" genre. These are, in order of appearance:

The Shadow Out of Time, "Hypnos", and "The Lurking Fear" - all stories by H. P. Lovecraft
Just After Sunset, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and 'Salem's Lot - two story collections and a novel by Stephen King
The Woman in Black and The Small Hand - novels by Susan Hill
Sandalwood, The Dark Chateau and Other Poems, and Nero and Other Poems - collections by Clark Ashton Smith
"Conan" - the Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard
The Turn of the Screw - a novel by Henry James