Black and White Horror Movies...

Here's a poem I wrote a couple of years ago and recently modified.....



From midngiht to six am
The TV is illuminated with the flickering images
of black and white horror movies
from the 1930's.

Inside, the walls glow with shades of gray
outside, the winter storms blow bare branches
that scrape the side of the house
like screeching whines of vampire bats
swooping through the black and white skies

the world was different then-
Fears fluttered from town to town
lurked in abandoned alleys and empty bars.
Thin wisps of ghosts slithered from ear to ear
whispering sinister promises

All the collective fears
were brought to life on screen

vampires and monsters
trudged through murky nights.
Smoke from the crooked castle chimneys
curled upward and gnarled the smooth sky
and the moon was glazed with and ashy screen.

I pretend I was born in 1910
I had a childhood of true life ghost stories
and days of reading the yellow pages of horror books
these old movies were the first horror movies I had ever seen
and the murky images flashing on screen
send shivers tingling up my spine

But reality easily stifles the shivers
watching the vampires eyes glow with demon fury
does not send sharp ripples of fear
colliding with my nerves.
I close my eyes and try to will the fear
to creep into my consciousness
but those shadows have collapsed long ago.

I am left with the rumble of thoughts
folding over each other
until I sink into dusty dreams
that intertwine with the fuzzed hum
of vampire conversations.