Dark, Creepy Poems (Part II)

Here is the second installment of my NaPoWriMo 2015 poem challenge. I’m writing a poem a day for the entire month of April, all of which I’ve posted to Instagram and am now compiling here. Check out the first installment here.

For this series of poems, I was inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Greed, and Pride.

Enjoy! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @storiesforghosts.

April 8:

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Day 8 of the April poetry challenge–how about a series of creepy poems inspired by the seven deadly sins? Let's start with the fun one: Lust I want to collect the hair as if falls from your scalp, rip out the dark strands, and cling to them since this is all I have of you. This is all anyone will ever have of you. I want to pluck the light from your eyes, smother the fire in my hands, and swallow it so no one will ever bear witness. My loving face will be the last thing you see. I want to kiss your mouth as you scream, Gnaw on your tongue, and spit blood drops like pomegranate seeds. No one will ever taste you like I have. #sevendeadlysins #sin #creepy #macabre #morbid #horror #poem #poetry #poetrychallenge #poetsofinstagram #writersofinstagram #amwriting #aprilpoems #napowrimo #nationalpoetrymonth

A post shared by Susie (@storiesforghosts) on Apr 8, 2015 at 10:35pm PDT

April 9:

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Day 9. Here's a poem about Sloth, the sin of "spiritual laziness." Sloth The old man hates the wire cage, The numbered balls falling over and over, And he hates himself for watching. Every turn might be the one needs. Every number might be his lucky number. But it has ever happened. It never will. The sphere spins, tumbling over and over, Slowly at first, as if it cannot will itself to continue. The plastic balls chatter like teeth, Like my teeth, he thinks. Like a boulder I’ve tried to roll up a hill, But then I’ve slipped, And the boulder has gone And it has smashed to bits, sounding like a clap of thunder and a downpour of hail. The old man despises the numbers, the balls, The cage and the boulder. I refuse to continue, he resolves. I give up. Let the boulder roll away. Let me stop, let me rest. Let me wait for death. I do not care anymore. It may be a sin— Your sin, Not mine. #sin #sevendeadlysins #sloth #poetsofinstagram #poem #poet #aprilpoems #poetry #writersofinstagram #amwriting #napowrimo #nationalpoetrymonth #dark #sysiphus

A post shared by Susie (@storiesforghosts) on Apr 10, 2015 at 11:19pm PDT

April 10:

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Envy You terrify me. Even when my back is turned I see you glaring at me, your fists clenched white, your fingers biting into your palms. If given half a chance, you would snatch me up in your painted claws, then crack open my chest to climb inside me, adorn yourself with my remains. What's it like to walk around in my skin? #envy #sevendeadlysins #Sin #murder #poem #poet #poetry #poetsofinstagram #writersofinstagram #amwriting #aprilpoems #napowrimo #nationalpoetrymonth #30daychallenge #30for30 #dark #morbid

A post shared by Susie (@storiesforghosts) on Apr 12, 2015 at 8:50am PDT

April 11: 

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Day 11. I am super behind….but I hope you like this one! Gluttony She makes short, quick work of them, snatching up a pulsing heart, ripping into a twitching brain, choking down a pair of gray kidneys, the color of a bruise that refuses to heal that clings to swollen tissue, ruptured capillaries, pain. And all this she washes down with tears. I loved him. I swear, she whispers I loved her too. All of them, yes, every single one. But love was not enough. Love nourished me but did not sustain me. Nothing satiates this hunger like fresh meat. Nothing fills my need like warm, quiet bodies. #gluttony #sevendeadlysins #sin #horrorfan #morbid #macabre #poem #poet #poetsofinstagram #poetrychallenge #napowrimo #nationalpoetrymonth #amwriting #dark

A post shared by Susie (@storiesforghosts) on Apr 13, 2015 at 8:57pm PDT

April 12:

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Poem number 12! Still really behind but hopefully I can catch up this week. This past week has been really demanding and I'm exhausted. Wrath An armored woman, her spear at the ready, cleaved a fissure in my skull and Leapt out to face you, Full of spite and rage. Don’t fear her blade or fists, Be afraid of her words, Her voice, churning like the river of thick, icy ink. Every syllable is a gasp for breath Every word raises those black waters. I don’t care if she kills us both, As long as I live to see you drown. #sevendeadlysins #sin #wrath #rage #morbid #macabre #dark #photography #poem #poet #poetry #poetrychallenge #poetsofinstagram #amwriting #napowrimo #nationalpoetrymonth #aprilpoems

A post shared by Susie (@storiesforghosts) on Apr 17, 2015 at 3:52pm PDT

April 13:

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Day 13: still behind eeeek! Enjoy! Greed The light in your eyes— I must have it. I must have it all. The same way I surround myself with Mountains of books (thoughts distilled onto ink and paper) Heaps of paintings (emotion splashed in color and texture) stacks of records (voices etched into grooves and gaps). Yours aren’t the first eyes. Every set is different, Every light has its peculiar shimmer, Because we are all peculiar and particular And we all shimmer in our own way Beneath the delicate glass panes and domes Of my curiosity. This is what I cannot stand, This is what I cannot abide, Things that refuse to be named And people who refuse to be catalogued. Whatever exists without my knowing, Exists in spite of me. #sevendeadlysins #greed #sin #horrorfan #morbid #macabre #poem #poet #poetry #poetsofinstagram #poetrychallenge #napowrimo #nationalpoetrymonth #amwriting #dark #blackandwhite #photography #creepy

A post shared by Susie (@storiesforghosts) on Apr 20, 2015 at 9:04pm PDT

April 14:

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Day 14 of my April poetry challenge: Pride The deadliest of sins, A sin of fire and light, Of creation and destruction, of being cast out from my home, of flailing and tumbling and, finally, smacking into the scorched earth, the shear force of your judgment, breaking and rupturing the ground. For what? Was that a sin, Daring to disturb heaven? Is this a sin, To drag my shattered bones from the carnage, To gather all your secrets, To slither after the morning star searching for the new ones, Those pitiful clay creatures? Don’t worry, I will find Someone to whom I will impart my wisdom, this sinful, illicit gift that you fear so keenly, like the blade of a hot knife. They will follow me soon enough, Their morning star, Their keeper of the fire. #sevendeadlysins #pride #sin #williamblake #lucifer #lightbearer #paradiselost #originalsin #poem #poet #poetry #poetrychallenge #poetsofinstagram #macabre #amwriting #napowrimo #nationalpoetrymonth

A post shared by Susie (@storiesforghosts) on Apr 20, 2015 at 9:54pm PDT

Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave suggestions for the rest of my April poems. Part III is coming soon.