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Every age, every man, every culture
Has a gleaming, shining anointed figure
No claw of lion, nor beak of vulture
Could break the great fixture
Of which rode on its horse
Clash or clang or crack or crunch
Stalwart standing indefatigable
It will not warp or bend or hunch
Far above the manipulatable
Nature of man
Yet not beyond.
For each plate, forged and hardened as it is
There is soothe a gap in the cold metal bond
Anon found the false promise of immortality
Is shattered faster than the protection ever would
Wendigo
Wendigo Wendigo Wendigo
Stories around campfires
And videos online
But none of it's real, right?
Wendigo Wendigo Wendigo
I can say it all night long
I'm not scared
As if he's gonna show, right?
Wendigo Wendigo Wendigo
What's there to fear?
Some deer-headed Bigfoot
In the middle of nowhere, right?
Wendigo Wendigo Wendigo
There's nothing outside
My doors are locked
Nothing at all, right?
Wendigo Wendigo Wendigo
There's someone at the door
l'll be right back
The Mothman
As the Mothman exists alone
Understanding and understood only by himself
The mountain grooves lead him
Up and down, left and right
To where he can be set free from his thoughts
For he will find his light again.
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The grass dances with every gust of wind
Crickets sing within the blades
Lightning bugs blink away in the wild
Salamanders reside underneath the waves
Then comes a child carrying a jar
Wishing to catch some of the magic
After a few tries the child is victorious holding magic within the jar
After the child has had their fill they release the little bit of joy
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The flower blooms in the warning light
The warning just before the Sun rises to ignite the sky
And set aflame all my ghosts
The petals unfurl in the dim blue
The blue that drowns the world
That I swim in peacefully
I cannot bear to see it rebuild its walls
To witness the end of a beauty
Which is why I hide from mirrors
But, in this moment, I am free from all burdens
The flower is my soul
My gentle glowing soul
Easy breathing must end eventually
Light creeps over the horizon and sets the day in motion
It is not an evil, for it knows not what it
is doing
Merely a force excreted by the Sun
A beam juts itself over the ridge, scorching the heart of my soul
All at once the end manifests itself
The petals of my beloved flower tuck in
Like a mother wrapping her young
All the world can see me in my lost and fearful state
A graveyard, a haunted land, I am the
heart of
My breath hitches and dies to
a shallow wisp
For a moment I was
free, strong, and graceful
No fight resonates within my form
Complacent,
I shield my face from the rays and join the ghosts around me,
hoping that if I let go
I may fade to grey
never to breathe
again.
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Screaming songs without a care in the world
Children piled into a van, tired but excited
Cantering down a rocky road in mid summer
Off to see something spoke of in legends
Brown Mountain, famous in the High Country
Standing proud, a timeless giant
Cool mountain air weaving like a scarf
Around the peaks and through the locks of trees and laurels
A year after, a lovely time
Full moon shining bright
Gazing at the sky, hugged in peace
Lights twinkle above, ones which are explained
Thanks be to the Mountain for being kind that night
Two years after, a disaster
Crying in the van, mid-trip stop
Stayed for hardly any time at all
Promised sight of the unexplained
Left with disappointment and canceled team-building
But this year, happy memories, though hardly remembered
Dark and cramped, though happy and alive
A blue light, drifting through the night
Like a boat afloat at sea
Different than the stars, yes
Right there, for a fleeting moment
Pointing, whispered shouts
Another light! A white glimmer
Gazing in awe, I marveled over the lights
How special they graced me with their presence
Some say the Brown Mountain lights aren't real
But I, oh fortunate I, have viewed their beauty with my own eyes
Kudzu
It engulfs the south.
It eats away at old farms, power lines, and buildings.
It comforts those who have grown accustomed to seeing it in their backyard.
A sense of familiarity,
and way to know that they're home.
Falling asleep in its arms, you'd wake up entangled.
It holds you close, not wanting you to leave it stranded once again.
"Don't leave, I'm here to help"
It offers itself to you.
You'd rip away, with no promise to return.
It will remain within the south, consuming what is left.
Witch Doctor
"Witch doctor with no more control
Driven by greed, you sold your soul
Restlessly, you hunger and you crave.
A fool’s attempt to escape their grave.
Vast white ghoul, who haunts all my dreams,
Your Sharp claws tear right into me.
Wretched Crawler, hearing your screams,
From your hell, I hope to be free.
Hellish hound, the pastor’s bane,
Guarding your undead domain,
Blood red eyes, and jet black fur,
Whose wrath I hope to never incur."
Moonshiners
Moonshiners
Dedicated to creating something
That could only harm them
A small scale disease
Spreading like wildfire
Drinking what their pride
Until they drunk their lives away
Quick and quicker
The corn liqueur making their eyes
Dark and darker
Until they couldn’t drink anymore
But there is always free drinks after death.
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I wish we didn’t have to make up things
To keep nature special
I wish we could just walk through the woods
And see the beauty in the thousands of insects,
And the lush moss
And say, “This is enough
This is enough for me and this is enough for us.”
But instead we spend hours looking for killer shapeshifters and insane moth men
Instead of taking a breath
And saying that we have
And what we can see
Is and always was enough
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To the dead rabbit on the side of the road
I hope that’s all you are
A dead withering bunny
I hope you aren’t any more then that
I hope I didn't miss your oversized antlers
Or your pheasant tail
I hope haven’t been driving past a mangled jackalope everyday
Because if I did
Then that means something special
Something magical and legendary
Is dead
And gone
And that little magic that is still in the world
Is gone
Decaying on the side of the road
Being pecked at by unrighteous crows with their dirty beaks
Gone.
I hope the rabbit is just a small rabbit
So I can keep hoping that maybe a jackalope is running around
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Down the windy country road
Through the valleys vast and forbode
A creature born in the night
Whose image may give many the fright
Where it originates not many know
But deep down, down below
In a sea of black and death
And through an area full of depth
Where does it go
What do we know
When will we lay it to rest
For it may have once been a child upon its mother’s breast
Drive on down, fast
And pray it won’t reach you at last
For when it does it’ll hammer a nail
Since no one has heard from those who fail
Beware, Beware its eerie sight
Beware, Beware of the blight
The Demon Dog lurks and all its victims will hurt
But if you find yourself on the road
Don’t look back or you might erode.
Beware beware
Only look if you dare.
by Edie Berke