BLACK DAHLIA

oh, Black, Black Dahlia
when shalt thou bloom?
and i shall present you,
to the leaves of the notebook--
my fingers’ blooming romance.
black, black dahlia,
waiting, as your petals--burgundy,
wither away into Sunday breath,
i shall draw a smile across your lips,
and when your petals ,too dry to blossom--
they shall stumble across these very fingers,
that devoured the limp grass you consumed.
and i shall crumble them to ashes,
spread them across the dirt in the yard,
for many more dahlias to be birthed.
dahlia, oh, dahlia
i shall meet you at Hades,
like none but Orpheus, the Bloom,
but i shall watch you, as we descend,
i shall watch as you drown,
i shall watch with everything but sorrow.
oh Black, Black Dahlia,
my garden’s the night sky now!

Author's Note

This piece is pretty much related to the Case of The Black Dahlia, so it's hard to interpret with no prior knowledge about the murder case. If you haven't read about The Black Dahlia murder case, I highly recommend you to do so-- simply because it is really, really interesting :)

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

I have read about the unsolved 1947 murder case, and that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the title. As I read, however, I could not see the connection and assumed I was wrong. Your helpful note enabled me to see things that fit. The murderer did slash Betty Short's face so it appeared she was smiling. Also, the spreading of the petals across the dirt in the yard might refer to the way the killer left her bisected body. There are probably a lot of other things I have missed. The speaker in the poem is evidently the murderer, and the words aptly reflect his disordered mind. Very good work.