It’s Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday today, so we honour him with – what else – a Poe-m.
And an acknowledgement of his restrained calls to prevent suppression and repression.
Fear breaks us, if we choose to let it.
🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛
He flies each day, feathers black and sleek
Perches on the same window’s edge
He does stare, but does not peek
Stays perched on the selfsame ledge.
🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛
His form lingers, my skin crawls
But I resist the urge to move –
His stare hardens, I nearly fall
And his feathers do not soothe.
🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛
His constant perches on the sill,
The caws I cannot ignore
I deter his calls. but cannot keep still
His constancy in my pores.
🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛
It watches not, my wretched form
For what, I cannot ascertain –
Perhaps. for the pending storm
Of fear. within the rain.
🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛
The crow, it waits, and does not snare
But looks through fragile glass;
He sits, he stays, and simply stares
For my unease to break. at last.
🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛ 🪟 🐦⬛
Original Poe-m by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.
If you like this story, do join me on Patreon! Buy this blog a coffee — it keeps the words flowing and the lights Your kind donation via Paypal would be greatly appreciated!
Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
The Getting Literal Writing Alcove 