Curse

You look from the pane glass

Eyes forlorn and distant

Tracing nothing between the fog

“Oh what a miserable hermit

Oh what a tired old man

If only we could help him

If only he would be helped!”

If only they knew

What you had done

You hold open

Those oak double doors

Courtyard alive with color

Color I shall never again have

No

You stole that from me

You lay in bed

Mind elsewhere

No

I won’t allow this

You must be here

Must stay here

Always aware

Always guilty

I pound upon the walls

You cry

Yes

This is fitting

This is what you deserve

I was never found

I will never leave

And so you’ll stay

Just like me

Your servants whisper

Your friends all gossip

But none know

None can guess

What you did to me

Nor

Will they guess

What I will do to you

The start of October and I’ll be posting a themed poem each day for the rest of the month!

Communion

I arranged it perfectly

My magnum opus

His blood found the cracks

Slipping between the tiles

A bloody tessellation

Then I sat

And played the harp

His final serenade

A lilting dirge

The notes rebounding

Refracting

Multiplying

Fractal melody

The room shimmered

In a strange light

The corners folded

Perpendicular warped

To parallel

There then I communed

With the infinite

Transcending

Minos’ Departure

I stood behind the cabin of Gabriel’s truck

The container he pulled, laden and waiting

The men had already begun transporting goods

A tanker of water

Sacks of vegetables

Wood for tools

And sand for ballast

Those cave dwellers swarmed

Eager bottle-eyes merchants

Dragging broken wheel barrows

Laden with their wares

Iron tools of all sorts

Hoes and picks

Shovels and rakes

Even a few daggers

This was another good haul

Come spring

We would be ready for trade with the farmers

A saw a boy

Dressed the same as all the rest

Except

Something in his weight

The way he carried himself

I sensed something in there

Though I knew not what it was

I mean

I’m still not sure just what I saw

He made a crow’s flight straight at Gabriel

I could see him speaking quickly

Hands out stretched

Pleading

This wouldn’t end well…

Well…

I couldn’t well let him get killed

We needed this trade

I leapt down and trotted over

Just as I saw Gabriel’s face

Roiling with rage

And ready to explode

“Hello young one!”

I called

Arms open

“My name is Lucius!

I am one of this caravan’s many merchants

If you need make a deal

It should be with me

We need not harass Gabriel.”

Gabriel grunted something at me

I could never understand him very well

“What is your name?”

The boy perked up quite a bit

He bowed to Gabriel and walked to me

“My name is Minos

I wish to leave this place and travel!

I have only been Topside-”

I found that odd

It felt as though he meant it

Topside

As a separate land

A proper noun and place-

“For a few weeks

But I can never again

Go down there…

Please

Let me join your caravan.”

I smiled

Thoughts ticking away

Strong back

Thick chest like a barrel

A bit short

But stout

Useful

“I think I could take you under my wing!”

I chimed

“But if that’s the case I need two things

One

Your word that you will stay with me

Work for me

For at least three seasons

And two

You must change your name

I can’t let you get traced back here

Could start quite the conflict

If it came out we were taking able-bodied workers

Away from the communities we traded with.”

Minos nodded eagerly

“So… a new name…”

I pondered but a moment.

“Michael.”

If you enjoyed this, make sure to go read Amberley’s poem for today right here! This one is SO GREAT. If you want to read the rest, check out our collections After the End and the hashtag AfterTheEnd!

The First Push

The crosses lined the mountain ridge

Men nailed in place

With thick wooden stakes

Hands bloodied messes

Ankles near torn in half

Their screams rained down on those below

If one fell silent

One of the Kilkenny’s would come

Pike in hand

And stab the man

So he would once more take up the cry

Their prisoners of war

Were these men

And cruel was this torture

But as I hid in the trees just below

I still felt guilty

For what was about to come

The swift death

The unrelenting efficiency

And the total destruction of their lives

Elder Amelia counseled

No mercy to those who profane

No second chances for those demons

I readied my bow

Michael had done a good job

The arrows were perfect

I drew back

Breath withdrawn

I aligned my aim

Released the breath

And let loose the missile

A gentle whistle

The man dropped

I placed a crooked finger

Between my lips

Letting forth a more piercing whistle

This was the signal

All along the ridge the underbrush moved

Palos watched over our advance

Kilkenny after Kilkenny fell to our blade and bow

He was proud

The ridge was ours almost immediately

Without a cry from their men

We slit the throats of our own

Hung from those beams

To cease their cries

To ease their pain

To warn the enemy

Death was come

The Night

When I met her

I knew everything had changed

I was alone

Nursing a shot

The bartender close

Hands shaking

As he poured another

The door was open

I don’t remember it opening

But the night poured in

Cold and windy

Dark and stormy

Framed by streetlight

She wore a dress

Black as sin

Lips layered charcoal

Eyes smokey but sharp

“I’ve come to collect

A few of my things.”

Her voice was low

Sultry

Enticing

I swiveled around

Teeth flashing wolf bright

“A drink or two?”

She smiled back

Oh that smile

A dangerous thing…

“No just a few folks

Who are going my way.”

She clicked her tongue

But seemed to consider

“Maybe just one…”

I looked to the bartender

Whose eyes were wide

And staring at me

“Well? Pour her a drink!”

He stumbled away and left

Through a back door

“Rude…”

I grabbed a glass

Poured one out for her

And she sat down

With some gravitas

I held up my shot

And she, hers

“Sláinte!”

I tipped back

“Sláinte agad-sa…”

Her cool response

Her shot was empty

“So what brings you here?”

I bubbled cheerily

“Like I said

To pick up a few friends

Who are going my way.

I mean in the end

You’re all going my way…”

I paused in pouring

I looked back at the crimson

Splashed over the booths

The tangled limbs

The faces of horror

And gripped the pistol

Which sat before me

“And me?”

She laughed

A laugh like broken glass

A rock through an old house

“Soon

But not yet…”

She drifted from me

All grace

And power

Gently she caressed their faces

Lifting away

Something thin

And whispy

To each one she did this

And I waited

“Well do enjoy your whiskey

And have one for me

Before you call it an evening.”

With that

She left back through the door

Closed already

And the heat suffocating

That was when I met her

Call her what you want

Death

Hades

Valkyrie

I simply call her

The Night

Minos Ascends

The sun was never again so bright

Never so effulgent

As the first time

I came up from our depths

The ominous

Ponderous creaking

As the lift was hoisted higher

And higher

I felt my heart beat quicken

What did it look like?

The sky

Clouds

Sun

Only ideas implanted in my head

Sounds that conveyed nothing

But wonder

And possibility

With a bang the lift stopped

The workers outside the cage

Tied down the rope to the wall

The door was opened

Beyond the gathered crowd I saw the illuminance

The otherworldly radiance spilling over their heads

I stepped

Uncertain

But excited

Onto the tunnel’s floor

The crowd embraced us and handed us head bands

Inset with dark glass

Old bottle bottoms

Lined with leather

We placed them over our eyes and were lead

Single file

Out of the mouth

Birthed into a world so vast

As to leave me awestruck

No god could have prepared me

Could have forewarned

Of this vastness

This beauty

I wept

“Minos, over here!”

Cried my father

Broad arms waving

Face aglow with love

A bear of a man

And one who I had not seen

Not held

In several years

We embraced

Warmth and sweat

But gloriously rejoined

He released me

And gestured to the horizon

Amber mountains stretched on

Unending

The sun beat down on me

Warming me more deeply

More completely

Than I’d ever felt before

And I knew then

I would never again

Love those caves

As I now loved this land

Minos had emerged

Minos had died

Minos was reborn

If you enjoyed this poem make sure to check out Amberley’s poem for this day also right here! Also if you want more poems like this check out our collections After the End and the hashtag AfterTheEnd!!!

The Fourth Kind

I pressed the door closed

Wood shrieked in protest

They had come finally

To take me where, god knows

I shut my eyes against the effulgent glow

Which pierced the wood of the walls

A warning hum rumbled my chest

Shook the foundation as I screamed

This sound was so entirely consuming

I could not hear my own voice

My hubristic nature had finally caught up

Those demands I sent out

Far and wide to the stars

“Find me.

Take me.”

The minatory response came

“Soon.

Await.”

The strident howl broke me

I collapsed and the door buckled

The light was all consuming

But I simply relaxed

Sighed

And let them take me

This was good

This was right

Sandwiches Aplenty

“The fifth child to go missing

In as many weeks”

I switched off the TV

So morbid

I sat up in the lounge chair

As the door swung open

In waltzed Owen

Smug as always

Tray laden with sandwiches

Cellophane wrapped

One for everyone in the office

I appreciated it

But god was it blatant brown nosing

I took the one proffered to me

Unwrapping with care

No one knows where he got them

Which shop made them

But I have to admit

They had been particularly good

This past month…

The Caravan Readies

Michael pulled the chain

Above the crowd the air horn signaled

The gathered fell silent

I stepped up to the pulpit

“As your new Caravan Commander”

I led in, all smiles

“Your Prolocutor

Your Supervisor

I vow this will be

Unlike our times with Gabriel

And that awful stint with Zeke

Both a prosperous time

And the beginning

Of something beautiful.”

There was a general rumbling of agreement

Keeping a respectful silence during my speech

“Our first order of business

Is to head north

We’re getting the hell out of this desert

We’ll return, you can be sure of that

But for now we need to head north

Set up routes with those tree huggers

On the coast

Open trade with them

Why?

You may ask

Well besides the fact

That I said so

Those goods

Will fetch high trade value

All the way south

With the Spelunkers

Wood

Water

Hides

All very rare

All very valuable

To those folks

What will we bring?

Valuable minerals!

We have a surplus as is

Iron

Coal

And silver

On each trip

We’ll be able to keep almost half of what we trade

Because of how valuable what we trade is

Compared to how common what they’re giving us is

And hell

This will allow us to more readily trade

With those moonshiners and farmers to our east!”

The crowd was getting rowdy

Excitable

Like putty in my hands

“Tonight we’ll feast

In the morning

We head north!”

They erupted into cheers

Then the chanting began

“Lucius!

Lucius!

Lucius!”

My people…

If you enjoyed this make sure to go read Amberley’s poem for today right here! And if you want to read the rest of the poems check out our collections After the End or the hashtag AfterTheEnd