Saturday 26 February 2011

Horror Poetry - Sand Man by Katy Bennett

Sand Man
I watch you lying on the beach,
We are alone together with the endless sea.
I stroke your damp hair beneath a moonlit sky.
Your tattoo of a serpent points out to sea,
As if yearning to escape beneath the black waves.
You are perfection. My obsession.
My strength and my weakness.
I sprinkle a handful of sand over your torso.
They sit like crumbs in your navel,
Your gentle rise and fall of breath
Sheds the grains back onto the beach.
I sprinkle more sand over you.
They fall in your hair and cling to the wet strands.
You are mine. I won’t let anyone else have you.
I bury you up to your knees.
I made you, shaped you, gave you a reason to live
But you tried to leave me while the stars watched.
I work tirelessly. Afraid
The sleeping pills will lose their effect.
I kiss your serpent one last time
And then smother it in yellow grains.
I caress your stomach and pecks
Before saying goodbye.
There will be no pain for you,
I hold enough for both of us.
Only your head is visible now,
I remember how your lips moved over my body.
How I drowned in your blue eyes.
Angry, I throw sand at your sleeping lids.
Soon my work is done,
I have said my final goodbye.
I love you, my sand man.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A got a chill reading this, Katy. I much like how sandman's identity becomes less of a focus as your poem proceeds (though still a mystery at the end), and that narrators' darkening focus becomes the creepy engine moving the poem.