Blood Verse: The Vampire as Poet

by Derek Clendening

  anticipation.

  I sip again as

  I raise my pen

  to try once more.

  Look straight ahead,

  dancing angel,

  when you feel

  a warm set of lips

  crawling along

  the nape of your neck.

  I’ll take you in secret,

  in this loud, crowded

  room, before staring eyes,

  before the sun.

  My strike

  is wordless

  and the fuel of my drive

  is a whisper.

  My pen races wild

  across the page,

  keeping my ravenous

  urges in check.

  My fingers wrap tight

  around my writing tool

  feeling its lightning friction

  as drops of sweat

  hang from my temple.

  She takes her coffee to go,

  and is out of my life.

  A revolving door.

  The page before me is the

  only way

  to keep her here,

  but not enough

  to slow my drive

  as I follow her

  out the door.

  Stanzas Written on the Death of a Lovely, Perfect Victim, Attacked Under the Central Ave Bridge Composed 3 August 2004

  Together under this ancient bridge,

  gateway to the night,

  I drink from you, perfect victim and

  wonderful lover, as you lay and suffer.

  I compose this elegy as I do for all,

  while your heart still beats and

  creates the rhythm for my verse.

  Each line is life that I take from you,

  every syllable written in your own blood.

  Poetry I write after all I kill; countless scraps

  of parchment, thousands of bloodied letters

  dried to maroon.

  I write this ode to you before you die,

  and with your life’s seconds so few,

  allow me to recite my verse to you. . .

  Creature most beautiful, I would love to give

  an undying vampire’s life with me;

  though I know right and wrong,

  I cannot expose you to the night’s torment

  by allowing you to live.

  Your blood I savored in educated sips,

  holding your firm, perfect body;

  then boiling in this humid summer’s night,

  my mouth tasted your divine, flawless lips.

  You are my pen, you are my voice,

  my dark new inspiration this night.

  You alone are poetry;

  I must offer you an important choice.

  Though fading away, you speak beauty to me,

  guiding my muse,

  leading my confused, rusty mind,

  to write new verse, inspired and free.

  As your breathing grows ever slow

  I say goodbye to you, perfect victim.

  A final kiss upon your death,

  a pleasure this poet can never know.

  Thank You!

  I’m Derek Clendening and I just want to thank you for reading my work, whether you received it as a free download or a 99 cent e-book. I would love to hear from you, so please drop me a line at derek.r.clendening@gmail.com . I respond to all email personally. I would be honored if you check out further works by me. Also, be sure to check out my blog at www.thehorrorofderekclendening.blogspot.com

  Other Kindle Titles by Derek Clendening

  Novels

  The Between Years (Ghosts)

  The Breeding (Zombies)

  Collections

  Clock Strikes Two and Other Stories

  Short Stories and Long Fiction

  Two Little Dead Girls

  The Lonesome Child on Wysocki Street

  The Business

  Young Adult

  The Vampire Way (Vampire Way Series Book #1)

  Blood Promise (Vampire Way Series Book #2)