Into the Wind

A poem inspired by the paranormal phenomena of the skinwalkers, and my trips to the Midwest.

Post-midnight, in the silent desert

The cacti watch for strangers

Trespassing on the road, this forbidden

Path, where the faceless ghosts

Inhale...

She sits beside me, in the pale lamplight

Of the sanguine moon,

Eyes alight, with a black magic grin.

I think that she is there, feeling her

Hand on my shoulder,

But as I turn, she 

Surreptitiously vanishes,

Leaving the eerie howls

Of coyotes, ringing across the sands.

I hesitantly peer

Down the roadway,

Expecting a solitary sound,

And all is mute.

Taking a brief walk

Away from the dim windows,

She appears again,

Her form slowly fading into

View at first

Shapeless, then taking

On a human likeness.

And yet, she does not seem 

To be present, shadowless, a

Wispy death breeze.

Then

She materializes

Directly in front of me, her

Inhuman features reaching

Toward me,

As I am

Helpless,

Trying to

Run

Deeply into 

Nowhere...

Her black jaws

Envelop my

Defenseless skin,

Leaving me

A slaughtered corpse,

Which momentarily

Vanishes

Into the wind.

Author's Note

Reviews

[Saumya]

wow..i really enjoyed this write, i could completely feel and imagine every word from top to bottom
the ghost and her actions were well described, and i loved these lines:

"Taking a brief walk
Away from the dim windows,
She appears again,
Her form slowly fading into
View at first
Shapeless, then taking
On a human likeness."

and also this stanza

"Then
She materializes
Directly in front of me, her
Inhuman features reaching
Toward me,
As I am
Helpless,
Trying to
Run
Deeply into
Nowhere...

Her black jaws
Envelop my
Defenseless skin,
Leaving me
A slaughtered corpse,
Which momentarily
Vanishes

Into the wind."

well done! my friend and the video was jst wow:)
i completely enjoyed this write:)

[Eric Pudalov]

Thank you so much Saumya! I'm honored that you liked it so much. And I chose that video in particular, because that song has scared the daylights out of me before (when I listened to it alone at night).

[Saumya]

you're very welcome Eric:) your write really was a good one, and the song too:) it deserved what all i wrote in my reviews:)
happy writing:)

[J.L Hunter]

What lured me into this piece was the title. I try not to read so much poetry, because, and this is a sad fact, most of it is tepid bullshit. It's almost as if people do not try anymore. Poetry is oftentimes more difficult to write than a 1,000 page novel is (not that I've written a thousand page novel, but bear with me here). This is because it takes time to express what you need in short bursts and in a small amount of time. It is a constraining artform that takes a talented mind to express it fully and without signs of such restraint.

Thank you for writing this piece because I could feel, almost see the images in my head, this is what good poetry should be, new and different.

[Eric Pudalov]

WOW! Thank you J.L.! That's a huge compliment coming from you, especially considering, as I understand it, that you are not a huge fan. And I absolutely agree - with poetry, you are trying to use fewer words to express what you want. And I'm so glad that I was able to get across these ideas to you in poetic form; oddly enough, I find poetry easier to write than prose. Perhaps in prose, I tend to write *too* much.

[Kalen Luciano]

I find the style the poem is written interesting. Could you be kind enough to tell me how you decide to separate lines like this?

[Eric Pudalov]

Thanks Kalen! A lot of people have asked me that question, actually. Sometimes that's difficult to describe. Generally, when I'm writing it, I'll separate lines when I'm moving to a new thought, even if it's part of the same sentence. Here's an example:

Kalen is a poet,
A young man
Finding his way
Through the world,
That is chaotic,
Like a rollercoaster.

So the first "idea" was "Kalen is a poet," and then in the next line, it was a description of you, so I said "A young man." And then I thought of an action, so I made the next line "Finding his way." It's almost as if I separated the lines by my thought process.

So each time you think of a new idea, action, or description, that's a separate thought, I think that's where I'd separate the lines. Is that helpful? Keep working on the poetry, by the way! Love it!

[Kalen Luciano]

Thank you so much! That was very helpful and informative. I will remember to think about this next time I write.

[Eric Pudalov]

You're welcome! And I'd love to review some more of your poetry. Please let me know if I ever sound overly critical...sometimes I get nitpicky about grammar and spelling, and forget the true meanings of others' poetry!