a visit from Mister Poe

who knows
and
what if everyone should know

I’ve only confessed to God
and so might not bear
the forgiveness
from people
and should they bear scorn in their eyes
and
their subtle rejections
even as detectives
met
happily
while the perpetrator of the crime
heard his own heart
though was
certain it beat from his victim
within the floorboards
beneath them all

and could he not bear a moment longer
unopened in himself
and so cried
confessing
all by terror as the means
rather
than a priestly person

so the ghost of the one he killed
pressed on him
worse than a would-be pardoner’s
supplication

or the black
cat
who wailed behind the wall
in this case
supplanting by revealing
sin
and murder

and so these stories go
of exposure should
the sinner
try to hide
from the world whose implication
must
be to expose

c l couch


for Hallowe’en and other Gothic times

photo by Sonny Mauricio on Unsplash