DARK POETRY | N.M. Brown

The mornings are long and the nights are short

My good intentions are met with a hateful snort

I've made some coffee Dear

The children are wild yet you stay asleep

I'm locked away, your prize to keep

I've made some coffee Dear

My family calls, you snatch away the phone

You keep me isolated, make sure I'm yours alone

I've made some coffee Dear

My spirit more alive than you allow

I have to get myself out somehow

I've made some coffee Dear

Foundation covers the bruises you've brought

Road maps of scars from where we've fought

I've made some coffee Dear

The blood on my lip, a brownish red

You leave for someone's else's bed

I've made some coffee Dear

You've ruined our daughter's opinion on men

She will surely grow to not trust again

I've made some coffee Dear

You make the money so you'd get the kids

Visions of your abuse dance behind our eyelids

I've made some coffee Dear

You allow me no friends, no family to talk to

My darling sweetheart if you only knew

I've made some coffee Dear

I want to fly but you've cut my wings

You indulge in all of your silly flings

I've made some coffee Dear

I stand to leave; beaten, battered and low

Your hand a vice on my neck as I try to go

I've made some coffee Dear

You scream at the children, I hold them close

I protect them from your hateful blows

I've made some coffee Dear

Our eyes not allowed to cry

Your mouth, always telling a lie

I've made some coffee Dear

All of us under your control

Oppression being your main goal

I've made some coffee Dear

You tear us down and keep us there

No other marriage that can compare

I've made some coffee Dear

I thought you'd want the best for us

You only wanted the best OF us

I've made some coffee Dear

There is no love in the way that we mate

You thrust into me, I feel the hate

I've made some coffee Dear

Every morning I paste on a smile

I try my best to love you all the while

I've made some coffee Dear

Cold breakfast sits on the table

Our new life starts as soon as we're able

I've made some coffee Dear

Ground up ricin; a tasteless bean

You like your coffee, strong black and mean

I've made your coffee Dear

We will step over you on our way out the door

I won't let the children see their Daddy laying on the floor

I've made you coffee Dear

I'm smarter than you think I am

Never again a door will you slam

Drink your coffee Dear

--Lonely Hearts Dance--

No one's exactly sure how the meetings began.

We just knew we were grateful and all formed a plan

A group for survivors and current victims of stalking

We longed for safety at home, at work, while out walking

We would convene, share horrors and vent.

Well assured they would come, in their minds we paid rent

It was my idea to use the barn for Valentine's Day.

We would reach out to them and then lure them away

The Lonely Hearts Dance the name that we give it.

To be a beautiful, decorated proverbial snake pit

Our obsessors were contacted (the ones not convicted)

We told them our hearts were no longer conflicted

We told them to meet us for a Valentine's date

Offering ourselves, for a purpose, as bait

We all have various methods, luring tales and lies

I insist I drive him in my car, telling him there's a surprise.

His eyes twinkled with joy, hands restless and fumbling

Surprised to finally have me, his words he was mumbling

I leaned in, listened and laughed when he spoke.

His breath on my face, my disgust made me choke

We arrived at the barn, not the first ones there

I enticed him inside right into my snare

My arm in his arm, I distracted him with punch

He blissfully drank it, not so much as a hunch

Their vile hands yearning, affections toxic like sewers

After the first dance we broke away from our pursuers.

The door was locked up, trapping them all inside

Panic we heard, no shadows for them left to hide

I threw the first match, Collin Rhett threw the next

The flames spread fast, their screaming voices perplexed

I stand close by, nearly seared from the fire's breath

The noise inside faded as each one met their death

Reclaiming our lives in a victorious raze

A life of being hunted had reached the end of its days

They all breathed easy, all with burned valentines

But there was one lone survivor.....one stalker......... Its mine......

--WOLF

The wolf is going to eat me, I see him start to roam

The wolf is going to eat me, I'm long far away from home

The wolf is going to eat me, its breath fogs heavy in the night

The wolf is going to eat me, I've no chance to survive the fight

The wolf is going to eat me, in the woods on Valentine's Day

The wolf is going to eat me, I've no meat to keep it at bay

The wolf is going to eat me, its caught my scent and slowed

The wolf is going to eat me, to our date my husband never showed

The wolf is going to eat me, the moon is full and bright

The wolf is going to eat me, its teeth glisten in the moonlight

The wolf is going to eat me, I'm far too slow to run

The wolf is going to eat me, it hunts me just for fun

The wolf is going to eat me, my flesh it will tear apart

The wolf is going to eat me, meat sweetened by the fear in my heart

The wolf is going to eat me, it is inches from me now.

The wolf is going to eat me, it licks the sweat from off my brow

The wolf is going to eat me, with breath hot, muggy and thick

The wolf is going to eat me, it pins my foot as it tries to kick

The wolf is going to eat me, that is no surprise

The wolf is going to eat me, but he has my husband's eyes

EDGAR JACKSON'S VALENTINE

Edgar Jackson loves the girls

Their laughter, their smell, their sweet wavy curls

Edgar doesn't care about eyes or the size of a girl's chest

A beating heart, a pretty smile, that's what Edgar likes best

Edgar Jackson's resolve will not bend

The young man has a Valentine to send

Lacy Hendricks is the girl chosen this year

It arrives on her desk, her heart pounds with fear

He picks her up at about half past five

He grins, he knows that soon she won't be alive

Disinterest and fear are apparent in her face

Edgar only loves that her existence, he'll erase

After dinner he's charming, she starts to relax

Wickedly satisfied, his knuckles he starts to crack

There's a fire in his eyes, but it's not from lust

He yearns to use his weapon to betray her sense of trust

Edgar then clenches his hand into an angry ball

Upon hitting her shoulders, down the stairs she did fall

Lacy awakes confused, tied up and scared

He laughs at her tears, he really never cared

Edgar greets her with the tiniest carving knife

Slicing her up within a foot of her life

She falls unconscious from pain, sitting there in his den

He lets her rest for a bit, then starts slicing again

Her body now lifeless, lithe and limp

With the others she'll rest, his newest love imp

Poor Lacy Hendricks, a greusome fate she had met

But for Edgar Jackson this truly was the best Valentine's Day yet.