for Ossian*
some of the gentlest folks I know
have souls tinged
with a love of darkness
blackness and bloodstains
bind their haunted air
sepia
cuttlefish
secretion
stains steel-pierced skin
tattoo-ink bleeds
bleaches
fades
sinister whispers
in monochrome
from American
Hallowe’ens
past
painstakingly
positioned
on glossy paper
macabre masks
project
monsters
as though they
lurked
in everyday life
pretending to be playful
black holes where
eyes
should be
grotesque scarecrows
lie in wait
for children
guised as witches
skeletons ghouls
begging for soul cakes
those children now
done and dusted
ghosts
of their older selves
a whiff of
allspice
from beyond the veil
* Haunted Air by Ossian Brown (http://hauntedair.com)
Spangle McQueen is a happy grandma and hopeful poet living in Sheffield. She is proud and grateful to have work accepted and/or published by Three Drops Press; Picaroon; Lonesome October Lit; Bonnie’s Crew; Burning House Press; Dwell Collective Zine; Strix; Awkward Mermaid; I am not a Silent Poet; The Writers’ Café; Foxglove Journal and Sad Girl Review.
Lonesome October Lit 