The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Loom
by Sheikha A.
Dear Phaedra,
.
Remember that island
where we sent the slaves –
our special feast – hidden
.
from Hades; it has bloomed
into an orchard of light – like birth –
breaking out of our cage of lies –
.
I sent her there too, Minthe,
smelling like a sweet leaf
under a soothing sun –
.
she rose like torn fibres –
crushed under my heel –
brusque and bold in my face
.
like her scent could compete
with the floral of my hair;
I should have thrown copper
.
into the soil that nursed her.
The island’s wind has carried
a baby’s whimper to my cradle;
.
one of the slaves has rebelled.
Someone has eaten Minthe
to conceive. Shadows I cast
.
are fast being consumed
by Apollo’s army; my dark
is drowning – these hues
.
pinning the sky pine for Kore –
my eyes are stones of Hades’
love; they cannot revert
.
to glinting flesh of pomegranates –
we must end their procreation:
all things new and fresh –
.
.
.
Dear Persephone,
.
On your chariot of ash and flame,
I found him – slave – bearing torch
on his chest. His lover set herself
.
on fire from fear or a mad love
she claimed would reunite them
in heaven. The baby melted
.
faster than their bones stubborn
to surrender to the lash of fire’s
whip. I regretted to see the baby die
.
for I have longed for new-born
meat since you took my teeth
and replaced them with canines –
.
your favour to me – my weapon
against accusers of my character.
Their bones were juicy – fruits
.
they ate in captivity; it enrages me
to watch their ingratitude for we fed
their bodies kingly before we dined.
.
.
.
Fiction © Copyright Sheikha A.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.
More from author Sheikha A.:
Nyctophiliac Confessions:
Poems by Sheikha A. and Suvojit Banerjee
“The night is cold enough to inspire poetry,” says Sheikha A. in her poem, “Reading My Bones.” This is the basis of Nyctophiliac Confessions – poems that are introspective and luminal, poems that require a certain amount of silence and space to be fully formed and appreciated. Reading these poems, I imagined that they were the kind of poems that assert themselves unbidden during a bout of insomnia. (A nyctophiliac being someone who loves the night or loves darkness).
Nyctophiliac Confessions is the 17th installment of Praxis’ chapbook series and contains twenty-six poems written by two poets, Sheikha A. and Suvojit Banerjee, interspersed with abstract paintings by Robert Rhodes.
Available Here!
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Spreading the Writer's Word 
Wonderfully dark and monstrous.
Thank you for reading and appreciating, Anita!
Yes, tragic — and monstrous — good word for this “duet”! Thank you, Sheika A!
Thank you, always, Marge!
Love the pace and rhythm of these poems – anything with a classical theme is a guaranteed hit with me and this was fascinating in its darkness.
I’m glad you enjoyed my piece, Alex! Thank you for reading and appreciating.