Poems by Kathleen A. Lawrence

Flock of Morose

(spiraling abecedarian)

Barbaric

beaks         cackling

crows         descend

darkening        ebony

eclipse.        Feathered

flock        grows gothic

gargoyles,        hawkish

head         ingesting

insects,         jagged

jaws        knotted,

keeling,         leading

lemmings         matted

masses        nibbling

noose.        Obfuscating

ominous         predictions,

pale         quests

quickly         ravaged by

riotous,         sinister,

savage         trouble.

Terrible,        unfathomably

ugly,        venomous

vultures,        wicked

winged        xenons

expectorating        yellow

yolky spew,       zooming at

zebus        angrily

attacking.

Aftermath

The galaxies awakened hanging hopelessly

No longer tethered to the sparkling heavens

But instead, a torn black curtain with lights

Barely flickering, the air hot, toxic and dead.

After evil shot like a meteor through space

The atmosphere was a dank, murky swamp

Cluttered, bleak with lifeless masses of rock,

Debris, splattered elements and inert gas.

Little Mayhem

The cabal of malachite creatures was small but mighty, grotesquely scaly

With bat-like wings cloaked in coarse hair, and piercing ultra-violet eyes

We stood transfixed, amazed, and deeply horrified at the traffic of aliens

As they stomped with tiny paws but loud precision across the dusty terrain

Occasionally a wing, the color of midnight, would swiftly clutch and crush

One tiny, shivering gray beetle-back prey in their jagged, jaundiced jaws

Until they reached their waiting ship, round glass, like polished dolomite

Swirly vivid colors like a marble, they ascended into the little door single file

Lifting off with a roar and a poof, and a little dent and tiny tracks left in the sand.

Horror Show

                hay(na)ku

He

Kills me

She whispered aloud

Headless

He rolled

Over in bed

Moaning

Without mouth

Dying without breath.

About the Poet

Kathleen A. Lawrence has had poems published in Rattle (Poets Respond), Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, Scryptic, Silver Birch Press, haikuniverse, Silver Blade Magazine, The Wild Word magazine (Germany), Altered Reality Magazine, Undertow Tanka Review, New Verse News, and Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, among others. Recently her poem, “Just Rosie” was nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize and a 2018 Rhysling Award. Her poem “Vampirette” was also nominated for a Rhysling Award.