Tag: poetry

The Saturday Night Special: “The Conquerer Worm” by Edgar Allan Poe (1843)

Edgar Allan Poe, circa 1849
Edgar Allan Poe, circa 1849

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lo! ’tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly-
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!

That motley drama- oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!- it writhes!- with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.

Out- out are the lights- out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

Announcing the Advent of “The Chamber” Magazine

Phil Slattery Self-portrait, August, 2016
Phil Slattery
Self-portrait, August, 2016

Beginning in January 1, 2017, this will be the location of a new on-line quarterly magazine for short stories, poetry, and other short works of the horror genre.  You can find the guidelines for submissions on my current Submissions and Announcements page, which will remain the same, with the only exception being that the word limit for submissions for “The Chamber” will increase from 1,000 to 2,000 words.

I am creating this magazine primarily because it is not fair to my contributors to submit a work for publication, when that work will be at the top of my blog posts for only a day, and then that author and his readers will have to wade through a morass of unrelated blogs to find that one post.  To remedy this, I will create a separate page on my blog for my new magazine, “The Chamber”, where each quarter’s selections will appear on a separate page for eternity (or until WordPress folds, or until I give it all up and wander off to buy a bar in Key West or etc.)  Issue 1 will appear on January 1st.  Cut-off date for submissions will be November 30 (I don’t want to work over Christmas).  Selections will probably be made by December 15.   Send submissions per the Submissions and Announcements guidelines, but specify Submission for “The Chamber” in the subject line, if you want your work published in The Chamber, or Submission for The Blog, if you want to be published in the regular blog.  I will continue to publish submissions in my regular blog until December 31.

Why call it “The Chamber”?  The word chamber has numerous sinister and macabre connotations: a chamber of horrors, a torture chamber, one chambers a round into a rifle, etc.  A chamber can also be where a sorcerer, an alchemist, or a member of the Inquisition stores his library.  It is with this last connotation in mind that I am developing my Chamber for the storage of my selection of sinister and macabre works from the best up and coming authors that seek to contribute to my blog.

So, start editing your best, most powerful material and see where this new venture takes us!  I want powerful, hard-hitting material that leaves its readers gasping and awe-struck at the end.

Announcing the Advent of “The Chamber” Magazine

Phil Slattery Self-portrait, August, 2016
Phil Slattery
Self-portrait, August, 2016

Beginning in January 1, 2017, this will be the location of a new on-line quarterly magazine for short stories, poetry, and other short works of the horror genre.  Please feel free to start submitting as of September 9, 2016.  You can find the guidelines for submissions on my current Submissions and Announcements page, which will remain the same, with the only exception being that the word limit for submissions for “The Chamber” will increase from 1,000 to 2,000 words.

I am creating this magazine primarily because it is not fair to my contributors to submit a work for publication, when that work will be at the top of my blog posts for only a day, and then that author and his readers will have to wade through a morass of unrelated blogs to find that one post.  To remedy this, I will create a separate page on my blog for my new magazine, “The Chamber”, where each quarter’s selections will appear on a separate page for eternity (or until WordPress folds, or until I give it all up and wander off to buy a bar in Key West or etc.)  Issue 1 will appear on January 1st.  Cut-off date for submissions will be November 30 (I don’t want to work over Christmas).  Selections will probably be made by December 15.   Send submissions per the Submissions and Announcements guidelines, but specify Submission for “The Chamber” in the subject line, if you want your work published in The Chamber, or Submission for The Blog, if you want to be published in the regular blog.  I will continue to publish submissions in my regular blog until December 31.

Why call it “The Chamber”?  The word chamber has numerous sinister and macabre connotations: a chamber of horrors, a torture chamber, one chambers a round into a rifle, etc.  A chamber can also be where a sorcerer, an alchemist, or a member of the Inquisition stores his library.  It is with this last connotation in mind that I am developing my Chamber for the storage of my selection of sinister and macabre works from the best up and coming authors that seek to contribute to my blog.

So, start editing your best, most powerful material and see where this new venture takes us!  I want powerful, hard-hitting material that leaves its readers gasping and awe-struck at the end.

New Poetry by Marieta Maglas: “Evil Earths” (third of three poems)

Screaming voices shattering the inner mirror of love
Clattering to nothingness, searching freedom in space,
Bloody songs tightly warping their blue heaven above
In the thin and chill air disappearing without a trace,
O’er sad whispers wind whipping through the wounds
In the symphony of demons’ dreams as a hot disguise,
Bloody voices needing to build up stomping grounds,
Buried danger sprouting out to keep growing in size,
The salty tears of liquid souls forming watery waves,
Beauties in the road waiting to face with their fear of death,
Still screaming while drowning in the cold watery graves,
Tearing the silence with their groan and bleeding breath.
###
Marieta Maglas
Marieta Maglas

Ardus Publications, Sybaritic Press, Prolific Press, and some others published the poems of Marieta Maglas in anthologies like Tanka Journal, edited by Glenn Lyvers, The Aquillrelle Wall of Poetry, edited by Yossi Faybish, A Divine Madness: An Anthology of Modern Love Poetry, edited by John Patrick Boutilier, Near Kin:A Collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia Estelle Butler, edited by Marie Lecrivain, Three Line Poetry #25, edited by Glenn Lyvers, ENCHANTED – Love Poems and Abstract Art, edited by Gabrielle de la Fair, and Intercontinental Anthology of Poetry on Universal Peace and Love, edited by Madan Gandhi

New Poetry by Marieta Maglas: “Blind Reality” (second of three poems)

Hollow-eyed shades
of human beings,
human beings
cogitating on jazz music,
jazz penetrating the silence
of the bleeding angels,
angels in a fight for
the awakening of this blind reality,
monetization of
the objects & spaces, asylums,
sexual harassments
for anxious women, prostitution,
deadly ocean waves,
terrorist attacks and
Islamist militancy,
racism,
multiple vortex tornadoes
to damage gas stations,
ISIS’s strategies,
public executions, crucifixions,
vegetation fires,
emblazoned clothes
and precious stones,
children murdered
in egregious crackdowns,
meteorite impacts,
wars,
illegal immigration,
exposed naked bodies,
powerful quakes striking
near the plate boundaries,
changes
in refugee policies,
kidnappings, sales of
stolen artifacts, drugs,
protests blocking roads, landslides,
macroeconomic policies,
casino culture,
silent strategies of democracies,
food securities
for starving people,
food price increases,
Monsoon rains
and flash floods,
nuclear disasters,
smiling volcanoes,
human cells mixed up with
animal embryos,
sphinxes, thermal shocks
caused by global warming,
dengue fever, songs,
warming parties, temporary work,
seasonal unemployment,
low wages,
alcoholic cocktails,
ill people not displaying symptoms,
Zika and Chikungunya viruses,
birth defects, theatrical triumphs,
crime watchers,
new hairstyles,
glacier calving,
different drivers having
different styles to run their cars,
cars blinking their headlights
while their motors scream,
screaming trees and revolvers
that shoot up walls to write lyrics,
lyrics of jazz penetrating the silence
of the bleeding angels,
angels in a fight for
the awakening of this new reality.
###

Ardus Publications, Sybaritic Press, Prolific Press, and some others published the poems of Marieta Maglas in anthologies like Tanka Journal, edited by Glenn Lyvers, The Aquillrelle Wall of Poetry, edited by Yossi Faybish, A Divine Madness: An Anthology of Modern Love Poetry, edited by

Marieta Maglas
Marieta Maglas

John Patrick Boutilier, Near Kin:A Collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia Estelle Butler, edited by Marie Lecrivain, Three Line Poetry #25, edited by Glenn Lyvers, ENCHANTED – Love Poems and Abstract Art, edited by Gabrielle de la Fair, and Intercontinental Anthology of Poetry on Universal Peace and Love, edited by Madan Gandhi.

New Poetry by Marieta Maglas: “Screaming Mannequins” (first of three poems)

Eyes huddled in fear,
that paralyzing fear in front of
the bullets mercilessly sprayed,
deeply sprayed by some cruelty,
which is fed up
with a lot of victims,
those defenseless victims of hate,
a dreadful hate,
which is fed up with a little love
as well as
a little pleasure can be fed up
with a lot of pain,
that extreme pain,
which embellishes the madness,
one round and seemingly
nonexistent madness being like
a strange cold having
many moisturized rosy-red,
rosy-red ring-shaped patches
associated with
a giant Quincke swelling
and with a boisterous cooling
noisy breath,
that snorting breath
like a groaning song,
a love song for a dance of death,
that painful death for all the hot puppets,
beautiful puppets becoming
cold wax mannequins,
those mannequins screaming
in their red rain
of feelings,
those red feelings coloring
a few sad moments,
cool moments of many winter fires
those burning fires
in the lost caves of shadows.
###

Ardus Publications, Sybaritic Press, Prolific Press, and some others published the poems of Marieta Maglas in anthologies like Tanka Journal,

Marieta Maglas
Marieta Maglas

edited by Glenn Lyvers, The Aquillrelle Wall of Poetry, edited by Yossi Faybish, A Divine Madness: An Anthology of Modern Love Poetry, edited by John Patrick Boutilier, Near Kin:A Collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia Estelle Butler, edited by Marie Lecrivain, Three Line Poetry #25, edited by Glenn Lyvers, ENCHANTED – Love Poems and Abstract Art, edited by Gabrielle de la Fair, and Intercontinental Anthology of Poetry on Universal Peace and Love, edited by Madan Gandhi.

New Prose Poetry: “I am Assaulted.” by Larry Thacker

In constant struggle with some barely met
demon-god’s angels, just over my shoulders,
along the path of my spine, hovering near
my ears, observing every thought, watching
my faulty movements, keeping time on a watch
I hear ticking but have yet to find hidden
among my debris. Counting breaths. Whispering
their dreaded counting of days. Moving with me,
forever me. I have lost count of their faces.
Their choruses beg attention, un-focusing me,
in languages I’ve given up hope understanding,
an alien tongue lashing, familiar to maddening.
I catch only fragments of messages, tones,
inflections, infections. My struggle, a prayerful
resentment, to find a perfect key, my own
tabula meditatum psychonum. Something to eek
the translation toward wholeness – some gift to
weaken cracks into the sealed gate where they
stand hunched about, listening to my weakened
fists pounding on the other side. They command
my waking hours and somewhere in my dead
sleep, my dreams un-spared. They frighten
my inner workings, these messages, urgent.
I spot wings in the corners of my eyes, shadow-
wrapped in life’s clutter. I turn, they evade,
cleverly plunging from sight. This awful game
they insist upon. They distract me from my days,
a thirsty tick just out of reach, drawing my energies
almost too slowly to notice. Slowly, like the many
voices growing in the veins of ancient trees.
 I hear you, yes. Oh, by the gods I hear you…

### 

Larry D. Thacker is a writer and artist from Tennessee (US). His stories can be found in past issues of The Still Journal, Fried Chicken and Coffee, Dime Show Review and The Emancipator. His poetry can be found in journals and magazines such as The Still Journal, The Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, Mojave River Review, Broad River Review, Harpoon Review, Rappahannock Review, and Appalachian Heritage. He is the author of Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia, the poetry chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train and the forthcoming full collection Drifting in Awe. He is presently taking his MFA in poetry and fiction at West Virginia Wesleyan College. More stuff at:www.larrydthacker.com

New Prose Poetry: “Remains” by Larry Thacker

I am bound to only the portions of books you’re paging through, a forced patience as you deliberate over the aged leather bindings and titles, of chapter and verse, of gradual plot developments and story arcs, the lovingly slow conflicts unraveling over black on beige onion skin thinness, so hauntingly unrushed even for me with the bottomless well of time in this shaded condition. Long uninterested in my own company.
 
I hear your steady breath mouthing words as you read and it still aggravates hell from me. I would gladly hover here, over your shoulder for years, as this slightest presence, a forever company in poetry and story, word, letter, and pen, if I could but accomplish something more than some slightest benign breeze on the curtain. An afterthought after a boring day. An aftertaste after a sip of tepid wine.
But sometimes, when you have finally given in to sleep’s call in the early morning dark and startle suddenly awake to find that book turned to a different page than you remember, it is then I have just barely mustered enough of a whisper to turn the page, yet you have missed it and I am exhausted in this lost state. Again, undetected. Again, left to my own retched company.  
###
 Larry D. Thacker is a writer and artist from Tennessee (US). His stories can be found in past issues of The Still Journal, Fried Chicken and Coffee, Dime Show Review and The Emancipator. His poetry can be found in journals and magazines such as The Still Journal, The Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, Mojave River Review, Broad River Review, Harpoon Review, Rappahannock Review, and Appalachian Heritage. He is the author of Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia, the poetry chapbooks, Voice Hunting and Memory Train and the forthcoming full collection Drifting in Awe. He is presently taking his MFA in poetry and fiction at West Virginia Wesleyan College. More stuff at:www.larrydthacker.com
 

Reminder: Submissions of Works of Horror Being Considered for Publication

If you would like to submit a short horror story (flash fiction of less than 1,000 words preferred), an article or book/movie review on the art of writing horror fiction, or just on the art of writing, please send it to horror@philslattery.com.   Everything must be submitted by e-mail either in the body of the e-mail or a Word document (.doc or .docx).  There is no pay for any submission at this time (maybe after I win the Pulitzer or Nobel, but probably not before then).

I am seeking:

  1. Articles under 1,000 words on the art of writing horror (fiction of any length, poetry, screenplays, etc.) or on writing in general, but material along the lines of horror is preferred.  Articles on foreign horror are encouraged.
  2. Book and movie reviews, the more recently published or distributed the better, but I will consider reviews of classics works such as those of Poe, Lovecraft, Blackwood, etc. all the way back to Walpole (and before if sufficiently interesting).   These must be under 1,000 words also.
  3. Articles on horror in other countries are encouraged.  These must also be under 1,000 words.
  4. Translations of articles, stories, or poems from French, German, or Spanish are considered, but the original article/story/poem and its translation must not exceed 2,000 words.
  5. Horror poetry (under 32 lines) or articles on horror in poetry.
  6. Flash horror fiction (i.e. under 1,000 words) preferred, although longer stories may be accepted if really good.
  7. Horror screenplays (under 1,000 words), horror haiku, horror sonnets, basically anything innovative that can be considered horror will have a shot here.  I will even consider short videos, but I have not even experimented with them yet and do not know how to write the guidelines for them.  The first consideration, however, will have to be that they conform to WordPress’s guidelines for videos, so I’ll start with that.   If you want to submit a video, please do, but be aware that I may have to decline it, if it turns out that I do not have the technical expertise to post it and do it justice.   Drop me a note first about other formats however, so that I can determine if they are feasible within the limits of my blog and skill set.

Guidelines

  1. Be professional.
  2. Use standard manuscript format.  The easier it is for me to simply copy and paste into the website, the more likely you are to be published.
  3. With submissions include your website, twitter handle, or any other social media identification you like.  A short bio of 100 words or less (including a list of previous publications) is nice, but not required.   Knowing your publication history won’t influence whether or not you are accepted, but it might be nice for the readership to know.  If you don’t want to include any social media contact info, don’t include it.  Pseudonyms are fine, but please state them as the byline and include your actual name and contact info in the top left of the first page of the submission per standard manuscript format.
  4. rose and balisongIn the subject line of your e-mail state whether this is an article or review or poetry of fiction submission, your name, and the work’s title.  For example:  Article by Phil Slattery  “Poe’s Raven: an Analysis”
  5. No hardcopy submissions.  Everything must be submitted by e-mail either in the body of the e-mail or attached as a Word document (.doc or .docx).
  6. I would like to reach as large an audience as possible, so please keep profanity to an absolute minimum.
  7. I will try to respond to submissions as quickly as possible, but please allow at least a couple of weeks before querying about your article/story.
  8. There is no pay other than the honor of being published on this website.
  9. I am not taking multiple submissions or simultaneous submissions.  Once you have submitted one article/story, please wait about a week before submitting another.
  10. You may submit on piece of artwork or a photo to accompany your article/story.  I will edit it (mainly re-sizing) as needed to fit the space available.  I will not publish any form of what I deem pornography or in bad taste.  If you do not submit artwork or a photo, I may select something appropriate.  JPEGs, TIFs and other formats accepted by WordPress are okay, but keep the number of bytes to a minimum.  I have only a limited amount of space available.
  11. Artwork and photos may be submitted on their own and you must own the copyright to them.  There is no pay for these either.  If I do not use these right away, I may keep them until a use arises, but please let me know if this is okay.  If you no longer wish me to use them, please let me know as soon as possible.
  12. Do not send advertising (no matter how cleverly veiled it is).  It won’t be published.
  13. Gratuitous sex, extreme violence, violence to children, rape and anything else that offends my personal sensibilities will not be published.  Anything that seems to reflect an actual crime (past, present, or future) will be immediately turned over to the proper authorities.
  14. If I like your submission, I will publish it as soon as possible, probably within a week.  This will depend on the backlog of submissions and other factors.   Don’t ask for a timeframe.
  15. Reprints are okay, but you must tell me when and where the article/story/poem was first published.
  16. I do not want fan fiction.
  17. Always re-check the guidelines before submitting.  I may change them at any moment without prior notice.

I will update these guidelines as time allows and events warrant.  This page was last updated on July 23, 2016.

Please contact me via horror@philslattery.com with any questions.

Thoughts?  Comments?

 

New Poetry by Zane Castillo: “Demon Appetite”

Demon Mask from the 1921 book "The No Plays of Japan"
Demon Mask from the 1921 book “The No Plays of Japan”

Horned beings

covered in flayed flesh

scamper towards him.

 

He watches in shock

unable to move

a recalcitrant limb.

 

Gurgling sounds

and squeaky giggles

come forth from

the demons’ mouths.

 

Drool falls to the floor

and runs towards him

as the demons’ anticipation

grows with their appetite.

Literary Hatchet Issue #13, containing “Faust”, is now on line.

150x150SelfI just learned that issue #13 of the Literary Hatchet, containing my poem “Faust”, is on line.  Please feel free to drop by at Literary Hatchet Issues and download a free copy.  “Faust” is located on page 248.

Once again, many thanks to poetry editor Michael Birnbaum and the staff of The Literary Hatchet for re-printing this dramatic poem.

Issue #13 of The Literary Hatchet will be late.

Faust--detail of an illustration by Friedrich Gustav Schlick
Faust–detail of an illustration by Friedrich Gustav Schlick

I found out yesterday that Issue #13 of The Literary Hatchet, containing my poem “Faust”, will be late by a few days because of the holidays.  That staff knows how to build suspense.  I will post an announcement when Issue #13 is up.  In the meantime, check out their Issues page.  They have consistently beautiful cover art.   I also like the way they came up with their publication’s name.  The Literary Hatchet is located in Fall River, Massachusetts, the hometown of Lizzie Borden.