In The Golden Age

In The Golden Age
adapted from PD James

victims were dispatched
by licking postage stamps
or battered to death by church bells.
They were stabbed with icicles,
stunned by falling pots, poisoned
by cats’ claws, locked alive
in steamer trunks, found dead
wearing looks of appalling terror.
All over England, bodies were
being discovered by housemaids
in private libraries, & under the
rose bushes by backyard gardeners.
There was murder in Mayfair,
on trains, under trains, in airships,
between the acts. Golfers
stumbled over corpses. But that’s
all been replaced by grisly shootings
captured by the security monitor
at the end of your block.

first published: Of Zoos. 1.1 (April 2012). Web, http://ofzoos.com/7petergrieco.html

Pavor Nocturnus

Pavor Nocturnus

He saw his beloved mother—
a peculiarly peaceful expression
lighting her features—
being carried by two or three
men with birds’ beak heads
who laid her sleeping on the bed.

His mother heard his cries
& ran to his bedside
& stroking his forehead whispered,
hush now, dear, hush.

Nine Cloud Journal, Issue 4. Vijay R. Nathan, ed. p. 27 Dec. 2022. Print.