Don Kingfisher Campbell
THE HALLOWEEN KID
a poetic libretto
CONTENTS
ROOM
FOR THE DEAD
THE
HALLOWEEN KID
ETERNAL
EPITAPH
CHILDHOOD
DAY AND NIGHTMARES
LIFE
OF NIGHTMARES
HORROR
ELECTRIFIED
MAN SCREAMS HE CAN’T LEAVE HIS LITTLE HOUSE
DEW
DROPS ON A DEAD LEAF
MORNING
FOR THE DEAD
HORROR
(a found poem)
GHOST
OCTOPUS
GHOST
OF THE GRASSHOPPER
Published
by Four Feathers Press
(http://fourfeatherspress.blogspot.com)
Room for the Dead
All
these dead bodies in our room.
Books
by the dead,
the
soon-to-be dead,
or
the someday-will-be dead.
Figurines.
Shoes
and pants strewn on the carpet.
Marilyn
Monroe hangs on the wall.
Stereo
makes the dead sound alive.
TV,
the dead look....
Shirt
and blouse crumpled atop the dresser.
Life
Fitness exercycle unused
in
the night.
My
wife and I in the living room
fucking.
THE HALLOWEEN KID
wearing
black
t-shirt
and jeans
butt
leaning onto
my
'63 brown Buick
it's
my birthday
I
hold a pumpkin
that's
got cut shades
just
like my glasses
I'm
standing in front
of
my childhood home
ready
to take off
into
1977 and my
first
job, first girl,
first
child, first divorce
second
job, second wife,
second
divorce
third
job, third wife,
second
child, and
I'm
still wearing black
and
writing poems
ETERNAL EPITAPH
You
are a ghoul
in
the graveyard
of
my past life
The
siren who took my soul
with
magic potion lips
and
black cat sounds
Am
I being an ogre
to
remind you of the spell
that
once spooked both our spirits
We
were like bats
fluttering
above the zombies
soaring
on a warlock’s broomstick
Now
I'm no better than a ghost
rattling
my chains to bemoan
what
sank in the quicksand
I'd
rather be an imp
putting
you in an iron maiden
to
revive our skeletons
Instead
I limp along like a mutant
wishing
he had his banshee back
to
spin illusion again
But
come to think of it
you
actually were a witch
wearing
a black widow
Who
sank her fangs into my heart
to
bleed to death my dream
we
would have an afterlife
There
is no chance of a phoenix here
because
you are the phantasmal wraith
and
I poisoned spider in a dungeon
So
I guess I'll bury our chimera
which
turned out to be a squonk without
a
demon's chance at reincarnation
And
carry a torch into my skull
wherein
lies the specter of a relationship
like cobwebs in a catacomb
Childhood Day and Nightmares
The
knocked against hallway wall gray tooth
The
pushing Tonka sliding glass door bloody elbow
The
bamboo, belt, and coat hanger discipline
The
overalled step-grandpa eat-all-your-food barks
The
bench back seat Frankenstein drive-in movie
The
green bicycle into white pickup corner accident
The
being the third wheel amongst buddies
The
Doberman Pincher bites sister across street
The
chewed and swallowed trash can Excedrin and
The
resulting sidewalk vomited strawberry Pop-Tarts
The
neighbor kid pouring cherry Kool-Aid pitcher over my head
The
junior high jaywalking friend hit by old lady car passing school
The
tenth-grade math failure meltdown
The
surf-induced dislocated knee scream
Life of Nightmares
Next
to a closed road overrun with overgrown trees
You
have become one of many abandoned castles
Now
I’m seeing dead dolls in thick branches
My
heart feels like an old turret tower
Disused
like an unfinished subway system
A
rotting shell left behind in desert sun
These
walls need paint, still seek love
As
snow covers the roof, blocks the doors
Inside,
memories, remnants of forgotten bodies
An
amusement park of long ago
We’re
off that plane, grounded, covered by sand
An
empty bed looks out dusty windows
Trying
to find the brain in the solution
Because
hanging rope is not an alternative
Nor
peering off a high stone bridge
I’m
like a boat in a lake sans water
Mindlessly
searching for an emotional twin
Nothing
else to do in this dark tunnel
Where
birds dive to their deaths
Rather
than be caged in open air
Horror
I
am The Wolfman
Whenever
I hunger
To
slurp salaciously
Your
naked body
I
am Dracula
When
you are near
And
I can inhale deeply
The
perfume of your neck
I
am Frankenstein
As
I walk through
The
indifferent city
Searching
for my friend
I
am The Mummy
After
days of not seeing
Your
smiling face
I
want to entomb myself
I
am an ordinary man
And
the greatest horror
I
can ever imagine
Is
never meeting you again
Electrified man screams he can't leave
his little house
My
brain is surrounded by a fence
My
mind is a lion god worshipping a bed of roses
My
soul is a cat sitting on a windowsill watching leaves dance
My
eyes have been wishing they could climb branches by themselves for decades
My
mouth is a troubled door opening wide for a blast of stones
My
belly is a flying saucer ready to fly high above the clouds
My
penis is an aloe vera plant that transforms into a palm tree
My
legs are afraid of becoming pudgy gnomes
My
feet are beer cans tossed through the gate of the future
Dew drops on a dead leaf
The
giant goes for a walk
under
the blazing sun
The
behemoth steps and steps
on
long concrete sidewalk
A
small insect traverses the
width
of a rectangle just ahead
One
gargantuan sandal darkens
the
sky above the bug only briefly
It
was the last thing it ever felt,
a
mindless accident of location
A
procession of black umbrellas across a grassy valley
To
the peaked memorial mountain where a gold cross
Shines
in fiery light as birds file over corpsed graves
Extended
to silently reach for remembrance of illusory
Mourning
in which some still believe geography divides
When
we are all the same detritus feeding the ground
Only
one red-covered mourner acknowledges he follows
This
sad pack observes their breathing for passing hours
The
dynamic daily destruction that doesn’t need our help
We
are decorated finite presences on bountiful rich land
Today
he will tell them time is just a perceived measure
For
a flock who forgets they merely move moments since
Nothing
else waits but lives on for perpetuated endings
Filled
fallow minds finally comprehending the merger
Horror (a found poem*)
1
(Jupiter eats Earth)
imagine
a grape
next
to a basketball
like
a drop of food
coloring
into ocean
glowing
white hot
liquid
metallic hydrogen
2
(Visit HD189733b)
blue
earth-like planet
with
soft oceanic swirls
a
Van Gogh marble
constant
winds whip
rainstorms
of molten
glass
shards sideways
fiery
cosmic tornado
chunks
shred you apart
with
near infinite cuts
3
(the great nothing)
everything
will dissolve
voids
are growing and will
consume
all things forever
*Inspired
by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVs7MwizT5
Ghost Octopus
Two
circular eyes on top of its head
Look
across the air of midnight
Big
red mouth agape at its tendrils
Which
act like ethereal arms and legs
Feeling
for a concrete substance
In
a painted square universe
Trapped
for several weeks or months
Until
somebody paints it over
And
it will be gone forever unless
An
artist returns and reincarnates
Ghost of the Grasshopper
I
ate the black widow
and
died
Now
I haunt
my
locality
Looking
for some
living
creature
To
scare out
of
the neighborhood
Only
trouble is
no
thing can see me
Still,
I perch
on
stucco wall
Wait
for
another
denizen
To
join me
in
specterizing
The
after
meal
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