Tell me,
is it just a dream
made up of tears?
Because I always feared
somebody’s watching me.
I’m just an average man,
working an average
nine to five.

When I come home
at dead of night,
I bolt the door real tight.
Dark figures,
crawling beneath my skin.
A million eyes burning,
lurking in the long,
black void of midnight.
Walls clawed
like sharp knives
by hungry hands.
A horror scene
of the Truman Show,
rotting in my own home.

I always feel like
somebody’s watching me.
Not friends.
Not neighbors.
Not the mailman,
the IRS or the law.

But fifteen missing bodies
I take time to bury.
Faces flicker in static,
the TV hiss—
Their names bleed
all over news channels.
Behind mildew walls
decorated in the
smell of decay.
Floorboards
creaking like bones.

Beneath me,
there are deep secrets
twisting and turning.
Lost voices whisper,
and colorless eyes
of the uncanny,
staring, following,
stretching unnaturally
at dead of night.
Hell, I’ve paid the price—

Everybody’s watching me.

When creativity spark,
That’s the birth of art

-Paul

“You keep dancin’ with the devil,
And one day, he’ll follow you home…”

I’ve been dancin’
with the devil
for a long, long time—
Into the night blues.
The scariest part?
I’ve been feelin’ good—
Oh…feelin’ too good.

Blood on the wooden floor,
his breath smell like
liquor, hell and pain—
Somethin’ like my old pops.
The devil wore many faces
with twisted smiles I learned from.
Crooked, sharp hands,
wrapped ‘round my cold neck—
Yet the music keeps playin’.

I know burnin’ truths hurt,
so I lied to you
not to break you.
I love you, darlin’,
you did all you can.
I hope you can stand it.

Love’s a ghost cabin,
I built those walls.
Once full of souls singin’ blues—
Now hollow and haunted.
Trapped both saint and sinner
of a fallin’ angel,
and you’re the hymn
I can’t stop hummin’.

My poetry exist
with a crooked purpose—

And so,
its crooked disturbance
violates
its comfort presence.

It exists
without my consent.

- Paul P. Deratany

With my eyes closed,
I see your ghost.
Somebody I used to know.
Both caught in razor thorns,
with broken bones,
bleeding from
twisted tongues.
Fire breathing,
burning my heart,
Memories bring out the dark,
They leave me breathless.

G̴o̷o̴d̸b̸y̷e̸ ̸P̷a̴u̵l̵
*******̶ ̷Y̸O̶U̷!̶

It begins with friendly love,
ends in scars of ****** madness—
I cut my teeth
on deadly, forbidden names
from the thorns for the rose.
Falling in the deep,
watching the days
burn down into decades—
leaving me breathless.

I realized:
how we fractured in flames
is how I poisoned us to the ground
with bleach and vinegar
and ignite us on fire.
Your corrupt shadows
lurk in chemicals and ashes
everywhere I go.

You’re gone,
and so am I—
Yet your essence is not.
You’ve waited for so long…
I’m sorry
for breaking you.
I hope you rest—
peacefully…

I̷ ̵a̶S̷ ̷F̶r̶E̸e̸ f̶O̷r̸G̷i̸V̸e̷ y̵O̷u̵,̷
̵y̶E̸t̵ n̶E̸v̵e̷R̶ F̵o̶R̸g̸E̷t̶ ̷
̷t̶H̸e̴ ̵d̷E̴e̵d̸S̸ o̵F̵ ̴t̶H̵e̴
̸f̴A̵l̵L̴e̸N̷ ̶a̸N̸g̴E̸l̵ ̴
̶y̵O̵u̷'̷V̴e̷ b̶E̶c̷O̵m̵E̶.̶.̸.̵
̶w̶E̷'̵l̷l̸ s̴P̵l̷I̵t̵ ̵p̶A̶t̸H̸s̴,̴
̶a̷N̵d̵ ̵o̷N̴e̴ ̴D̵a̷Y̵,̸ ̵
̸w̵E̵’̶L̵l̸ ̴ ̵m̵E̶e̸T̵ ̴a̵G̶a̷I̷n̶.̷.̶.̶
̶
̸G̴o̴O̵d̴B̸y̶E̷ ̶P̸a̷u̵l̶.̷.̸.̵

Your name—
Screaming in violins.
The clock on the wall,
ticking in a rhythm—
A crooked dance.
Behind closed eyes,
I see your
million white eyes
staring down dark halls.
Red lights only glowing.
A green exit sign,
always there, taunting me.
Like a vivid dream
gone wrong—
My heart, my body,
your eyes—
locked in place.

I̶ ̸c̵A̸n̶'̵T̵ ̵M̸O̶V̶E̶

The red walls talk.
I used to know them,
whispering to my left—
Turning into screams
of the violin.
On the dead TV to my right,
an amber alert goes off…
A glitching static,
breathing heavy and low—

y̸O̶u̷ ̸B̸r̴O̵k̶E̵n̵ ̷m̶E̵.̴

The room hums louder
in violins and TV static.
The red walls—
breathing heavy and loud.
Pale eyes—
Watching close upon me,
tearing my chest open—
Burning, bleeding,
wounds open, hearts exposed.
A hand of a million poor souls
slammed the TV screen and walls—
Over and over
into a cursed rhythm,
My heartbeat—
Screaming—
Screaming—
s̴C̷r̵e̸A̷m̵I̷n̶G̸—
Until it shatters.
The clock stops ticking.

y̴O̴u̸"̷r̴E̸ ̷L̷o̸S̵t̴.̶.̷.̵
̸N̸e̷V̸e̸r̴ ̷f̶O̶u̶N̶D̸.̶.̴.̷
̴w̶H̵o̶ ̵h̵a̶V̵e̷ ̴y̷O̶u̴ ̸
b̶e̷E̵n̷/p̷R̵a̷y̸I̸N̴g̶ ̷t̷O̴
̵a̶L̸l̷ ̵t̸H̸i̴s̸ ̸t̶I̶m̵E̸?̶

Each corner I turn,
my heart hurts—
Burning in ashes,
beating, bleeding—
Lurking everywhere.
Scars on my arms,
barely healing—

I think about you
every once in a while,
standing out in
wild nightmares.
I hugged you in a dream,
whispered sorry for lost times.
I know you still hate me—

**** it.
I don’t want you,
running back,
coming and going—
Go burn
in paradise!