New Poetry & Haiku from 5 Writers

Hopefully we've seen the last of the Three Horsemen of the Technologyapocalypse – migrating to a new website platform + move to new email address + (two days ago) major systems update – so we can now focus on publishing poetry and flash fiction on this site! We've five poets for you today with a pleasing mixture of blood, gore, terror, sci-fi and even a little flavour of The King in Yellow...

True Love
by Guy Belleranti

Hungry for love,
he cannot stop kissing
until she stops laughing
and kisses back.                                                      
Like others before him
he’s greatly surprised.
He wasn’t expecting 
the fangs. 

* Guy Belleranti writes poetry, fiction and more. His poetry has appeared in Scifaikuest, Midnight Echo, Trysts of Fate, Spaceports & Spidersilk and the book Anomalous Appetites.


defiance
by Anna Sykora

deep sea colony number five
are any of you still alive
we haven't heard a word in weeks
the president's concerned

__mission control we've gone on strike
for better pay and plankton here  
our solar eyeball needs repair
our tentacles are tired__

deep sea colony number five
we order you, rejoin the hive

__mission control we're shutting down
we're shutting up and leaving town__

* Anna Sykora has had poetry and short stories published in numerous publications, including Niteblade, Star*Line, Tales of the Talisman and Leading Edge. 


A Warning
by Amanda C. Davis

Don't go down to the ocean.
Don't go down to the tide.
Don't look under the shells and the stones
For the secrets and treasures they hide.

Don't pick up what you find there.
Don't take it home to your den.
But if you can't help it, then never –
No, NEVER –
Go down to the ocean again.

* Amanda C. Davis has had work published in Goblin Fruit and Not One of Us, among others. She tweets enthusiastically as @davisac1


Icterine
by Christopher Hivner
 
I was surprised when
she painted the room
pale yellow
until I saw
how well my blood looked
splashed across the walls.
As she opened
each artery
and drained me
the patterns
formed to reveal
her self-portrait.
Her instructor stepped over
my fetal-curled body
to examine her work
and gave her an “A”
for form, function and originality.
That’s my girl.

* Christopher Hivner writes from a small town in Pennsylvania surrounded by books and the echoes of music. He has recently been published in Illumen and The Horror Zine. A collection of short stories The Spaces Between Your Screams was published by eTreasures Publishing. www.chrishivner.com + Twitter @your_screams


Nobel zombie
by Herb Kauderer
     
they resurrected Faulkner
to revitalize the
splatter-film industry
 
the result wasn’t just noir
it was subterranean


debris
 
piecing teddy bears
the archaeologist digs
for lost innocence

* Herb Kauderer is an associate professor of English at Hilbert College. He has an MFA from Goddard College.