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A grind—bones against gravel,
Flesh pulled thin by rusted teeth.
A wail, swallowed by the wind,
Spat back hollow, broken.

The carousel, once a carnival of hope,
Rots in a barren field.
Its beasts—hulking shadows,
Eyes wide, frozen in fear
Of what never came.

Time loops—endless, merciless—
A cruel ring of blood and ash,
Twisting upon itself,
Never ending, never beginning,
Only echoing empty promises.

The wind howls with ghosts of lost ambition,
Claws dragging across splintered wood,
Brushing rusted metal—
Each touch a whisper
Of what could have been, but never was.

Dreams died here.
No one mourned.
They only rotted,
Sinking into the earth,
Leaving behind echoes
No one dares to hear.

And still, the carousel spins—
Not because it wants to,
But because it's too broken to stop.
The carousel spins on, not out of will, but from the weight of its own decay. A reminder that sometimes, we’re trapped in cycles we never chose, haunted by — a carnival of what never was.
ZACK GRAM Feb 10
I was near death yesterday
I now know I'm not normal
Nor am I human
I am not from here...
I seen visions..
Out of body..
There was a program
I seen screens like iron man mask
I seen aliens looking back at me
I was in the program scrolling
I finally seen the other side
I know I'm not crazy anymore
I have super powers
God's real..
I was created not birthed
Biblical times are upon us
Thru my creation
King has arrived
If only you could see what I saw
Everyone must pray
Believe in the lord
His words
Share the truth
Stop the lies
Life's a paradox
My body and mind control it
Stay blessed I seen the other side
Everything is a giant lie
Aparate
T'was not a spirit,
T'was not a ghost.
There is no specter,
Which haunts my soul.
In a joyous world,
I and I alone,
Am the inspiration,
For each sad poem.
I deal with my feelings and my thoughts by writing them down in stories. Once they're on paper it's no longer my problem to cope with, it's the paper's.
blank Jan 26
i lied about the exorcism--
that neon ghost
still haunts my phone
and though all of us are silent
you sing my tinnitus till the storms get back.

you don't know it's been raining all week
because i never told you;
i'm so scared of spirits and spiders
and weathering small-talk--
your sun and my curtain-clouded bedroom.

in a sunpatch on your floor,
i dreamt of leaping off the grid
and landing back in lake hylia a hero;

now i only dream of daytime drinks,
a summer solitude as dull as the ends of my hair
'cause i can't even throw back my dad's ninety proof
without the sun in my eyes

so the truth is
between zelda and zookeeping
i've been seancing on the dusty carpet
arranging myself around album booklets and ***** shirts

and maybe i couldn't help it

maybe i lit a couple candles by your name
not thinking you'd think of me
or think to shine solar snapshots onto my pillow--
a presence to make me breathless
enough that i can't
***** them out

and they keep me up at night
--written june 20, 2019--
Blake Farley Jan 25
A love language is scrolled upon the walls of my house,
Hand-lettered on the plaster,
Waxy under layers of bluish and yellowed patina.
The grasp of time is precious.
The artist died decades ago, but the words hold him here.

He is the protector of the house.
He gives me his memories.
He visits my dreams.

"This world is so beautiful," he tells me.
He cannot leave the view of Bear Mountain and the cottonwoods.
He cannot leave the rock walls
Built with his own craggy hands.

But...
He is not mine.
There was no consent.
I am tired of self-absorbed ghosts.

I sage and sage until he’s choked out by smoke.
When he finally surrenders,
The vanity cracks, and
I offer him up to the golden angels,
Who take him away and remind him who he really is.

Then I have reverence.
Then I lay down the flowers.
Then my heart can melt into
The house that is mine.
Valentin Eni Jan 20
Wandering shadows drift upon my street,
They stop outside my door begin to speak:
Halum hecat.

They peer through glass as though they see my face,
They wave at me as if to call my name,
And with dry voices whisper through the space:
Nehim ruhat.

Perhaps I should be gripped by dreadful fear,
Hide in my bed beneath the blankets tight,
Scream out and wake, relieved to find it clear—
It was a dream, a fragment of the night.

But I feel no fear. Instead, I’m curious,
And like a dream, I slowly start to drift
Toward those shadows, whispering to us:
Sahat lehud.

A shiver runs through every vein and bone,
I press my palm against the icy pane,
And from the shadows, rising like a moan:
Khalim tahud.

I see a thousand shadows writhe in night,
They signal me, they press against the glass,
And from their whispers, delicate yet slight,
A single voice like balm begins to pass:
Tahil latham.

Perhaps a dying soul’s faint shadow calls,
Or one unborn, whose heart has yet to beat.
And something in me rises, breaking walls—
I answer in their tongue, obscure, discreet:
Tahat naham.

Then I dissolve into the misted pane,
I pass beyond into the frozen dark.
And I become a shadow lost, profane,
To roam the streets forever, without spark.

And I will softly cry:
Naum tahit.

And I will cry aloud:
Halum hecat.
Windy winter day,
You walk alone in the white and gray.

I walk four paces far from you,
A ghost in the snow's fair ballet.

A bitter breeze blows from the west,
Interrupted by my wispy form.

Graces your rosy cheek,
And you turn to where the winds came from.

Squinting through the blinding snow,
You stare right at me.

And for a moment I think you know,
That I am here, a winter's ghost.
This is a letter I found sitting in a desk drawer of an old house in the Genesee river country. Or at least that's how it reads.
TonyNoon Jan 11
Forget the book and candle.
The creaking comes with age.
You know those rattling panes
are taunted by branches left
uncut by you in lazy summer.

Do not lock the door and run.
Ghosts are particular. Always
with us, they thrive in three-ply
boxes, and in packed suitcases.
When you are ready, they are too.


Tony Noon
Anais Vionet Dec 2024
yin
I see them in reflections - the orange juice glass at breakfast or my iPhone where they can pop-up, like notifications - I keep my phone face down.

They usually want to tell you something - how it was for them - their history. I discount these emotional messages - they come with the jester's assumption that I care - that I need the performance and will get involved.

“What are you doing?” My mom asks, as I’m taking all the shiny, mirror-like ornaments off the Christmas tree.
“The glare gives me a headache” I say, without stopping.
“Your Grandma does that too”, she says, wiping her hands on a Santa-themed dishtowel.
“Really?” I say, but I know that, and I know why.

I started having nightmares, when I was in first grade. My mom thought I had an overactive imagination but when she described it to my grandma, she soon showed up for a visit.

Over the next few weeks my Grandma told me about our “gift”. About how we were both born on the same day, under a waning third moon, in Autumn. That we're both “Yins,” doxies (sweethearts) of the dead and that we could, at times, see and hear people who were between stops on their way to their afterlives.

That’s why the dead parachute into my unused moments from reflective surfaces. They can be anxious or in despair - when their deaths were cruel or sudden - but I'm barely an adult - I'm in school - what can I do??

The presence of water discourages them - which is perfect - can you imagine seeing spirits in the reflections of your bath? EEUUUWWW!  
You’ll hardly ever see me without a water bottle or polarized sunglasses - which seem to break up the images. I'll not be smothered in other people's afterlives.
Growing up, I lived in China, my Huàn gōng (au pair) would entertain us with tales from Chinese folklore like wandering ghosts (You *** ye gui) and the Yins who could communicate with them.
The spectres of the past 

That haunt me 

Causing me extreme pain that 

I feel I can not handle 

At the moment 

But I know I 

Will oust these ghosts

From my life

Not the other way around
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