Lynn White

Come On In

“Come on in the water’s lovely”

they called out to me 

with their arms outstretched

and the sweetest of smiles.

And I was tempted for sure,

their smiles were as entrancing as sirens

but their arms waving a welcome

reminded me of spiders

with their stretched out legs

waiting to pounce

in this watery web,

or the tentacles of sea anemones

as they whirl and wave

while awaiting their prey.

Come on in the water’s lovely

lovely

lovely

lovely.

The word echoes through my head

enticing me

for sure,

entrapping me

perhaps.

I’ll soon find out.

First published in Danse Macabre 137 Caldo Autumnal, September 2021

In The Beginning

It was not only the swirling

whirl of wind and water

that began it all.

Not only the sharp grey slabs

thrown up and dashed around

or rocks coated brown with mud.

and slime

No, beneath all of that was fire

the burning heart that flamed 

towards the surface 

ready for that day

When everything

would be burned.

First published in Ekphrastic Review, Bongé Challenge, December 1 2023

The Dying Of The Light

The red mist came over him

a bright dangerous anger

engulfing all of him

ready to explode

and splinter

into sharp shards

slicing everything touched.

When the explosion subsided

and settled into surliness

the red faded 

into monochrome

and the only colours left

were the greys,

but the whirl of the anger

still churned

and screamed

inside and out

as it choked the colours

and the bright white

with darkness

heavy as diamond hard granite

impenetrable

immovable

weighing him down

dragging him deeper 

into the black hole

with the dying of the light.

First published in With Painted Words, August 2019