New Poetry: Vampires and Men in Black!

We've two new poems for you today, both offering an interesting spin on familiar themes – and both with intriguing final lines. We start with Black Suit by Illinois-based Paul Smith and then we have Sweet Tooth by John Reinhart. John describes himself as "a one-time beginner yo-yo champion, tinkerer, and certifiable eccentric," adding "John lives in the Weird, between now and never, collecting and protecting discarded treasures, and whistling combinations of every tune he knows." His poetry has recently been published in Black Heart Magazine, FishFood & LavaJuice Magazine, Star*Line, and Liquid Imagination.


Black Suit
by Paul Smith


The man in the black suit finally came
And conscripted us
But he was smart about it
Sending men ahead of him each month
To get us used to the idea
In suits that got darker
First there was a man in a white suit
Who brought us ice-cream
Then a man in a lime-colored suit with melons
Followed by a man in a red suit
Who brought us V-8 juice
Finally, like I said, came the man
In the black suit
By now we were ready for it and him
So we went along with him
And he gave us each our own black suit
Which we put on
And then we rounded up 
Those who weren’t and didn’t



Sweet Tooth
by John Reinhart


I thought 
her pointy teeth
looked sexy
when she gleefully accepted
my offer
of dinner

afterwards
when she invited me in
for a drink
I did not realize
she would and I was