Spooky Poems for Halloween (& All Year Round) by Michael Benedikt
Eerie, Ominous, & Grisly poems mostly from THE
BODY, Benedikt's first book of poetry
(Wesleyan University Press, l968). l998/99 & Y2K selections &
revisions.
Last Modified 10/01
Spooky Photo of Author. Click here for Benedikt Biography.
Although a Halloween-&-Horror page, parts
may not be suitable for younger fright, fear & terror fans.
Young persons under supervision, please!
Poems At This Page:
(1) The Eye of The Assassin (2) The Helper (3) Mr. Rainman (4) To Persuade A Lady
(5) Some Old Men (6) The Debris of The Body (7) The Wings of The Nose
& (8) An Afterthought About Autumn: The Autumn Villain
NOTE: "To Persuade A Lady" is from Benedikt's
2nd book of poetry, SKY (Wesleyan, l970).
It's a Scary Love Poem, a new literary genre originated by Benedikt &
explored in his early books especially.
About.com Featured Site Award
ABOUT THIS PAGE
This is part of a Website-In-Progress with
Selected Poems from THE BODY and SKY
(Page 4 of
5).
Besides Spooky
Poems, both books contain other dark poems/poems
of 'Black Humor,'
as well as many other poem-types
Info on Other Themes/Types of Poems in THE BODY
Links
to Other Pages Within This BODY-SKY Website
New:
A Few Moments of Dusty Autumnal Background Music
(Doubleclick.
Takes A Moment To Load, 1st Time Around)
THE EYE OF THE ASSASSIN
The victim, who tried to run away
Lay in parts, just outside the doorway
On the porch
Between the two front windows
At the exact center of the cleft
Of the whole house cut in two.
Not far off
Peering through the trees
You could see
An arm, still brandishing an immense axe
And the satisfied
Assassin's eye.
THE HELPER
To be helpful
To lift up someone's eyelid at midnight
To observe their lack of vigor
To grasp them by one arm and drag them out of the room and downstairs
And dress them in an old oilskin against black insects in the hall
Then to drag them down the front flight of stairs
And put them in the trunk of the car, afterwards locking it carefully for
safety
Then to drive them out to the country
Down all those dark, deserted roads, with only the black night butterflies
alert
And there, in the country, to find a quiet, relaxing place
Perhaps on a knoll or in a field or under a bridge with the water
tricklings
writing maledictions over everything
And to bury them there
In the oilskin
With the insects still keeping their distance
And to bury them deeply and undiscoverably
--To be this helpful
Is unappreciated, often.
MR. RAINMAN
In the rain, an angry outcry: 'Get your hands off my trickling
face'!
A damp rug
my chilled
hands
Show that we have a rather sinister visitor:
A
smudge
in a
soggy grey coat
And shoes that hiss on the diningroom table
We thought he simply needed a shave but that shadow on Mr. Rainman's cheek
actually meant that he was almost completely covered
with mosses
and various other greens growing there...
O my pink-cheeked, innocent young daughter
O my daughter in your ancient but hardly yellowed white pinafore
what are you doing peeking at him at midnight
through the skylight?
& then sliding down towards
him
straight down the bannister
You stand out enough!
TO PERSUADE A LADY
Carpe Diem
True, I have always been happy that all the things that are inside the
body are inside the body, and that all things outside
the body, are out
I'm glad to find my lungs on the inside of my chest, for example; if they
were outside,
they'd keep getting in the way, those two great
incipient angel wings; besides,
it would be messy
I mean, how would it be if your reached out to shake someone's hand
and there, in the palm, were a kidney and a liver complete
with spleen?
Can you imagine standing at 5 PM in a crowded subway car full of empty
stomachs?
What if a nice, nearsighted old lady were knitting socks and suddenly
her veins fell out? How would she avoid creating
a substance full of strangeness
and pain?
To the barefoot country boy sitting on the edge of the bed in the morning
and opening Aunt Minnie's gift box, the sight
of those socks would be
what he'd call 'a real eye-opener!'
And what if our voices touched? If our mouths went out, instead of in?
If you were inside of me; or, at least, if I were inside of you?
Nobody understands why these indigent sweepers keep showing up exactly
here
Every evening at the edge of the Tuileries park
To sweep the garden with sweeping equipment of past days
Their eyes are dim their hands can barely grip their brooms
Faggot brooms bound with old rushes and things
And they chatter with excited gestures
And should a lady go by wearing only a grey fur coat, high-heeled shoes,
and
stockings with ragged runs in them,
Beneath which is a frock torn partly to shreds
They smile at her understandingly, and then begin to whistle innocently
and stare up at the sky...
Companion of my days, companion of my evening secrecy!
Oh this must be our favorite spot in the Tuileries--
Shaded and calm and only slightly dusty...
--------
Note: Tuileries--name of a park in Paris
THE DEBRIS OF THE BODY
The debris of the body is piled up around the foot of the statue, and
is also scattered
around the landscape.
It starts on the statue's shoe
And then thins out until it comes to a river, where the light debris drifts,
and the heavier
debris sinks, hitting a fish on the head.
The picturesque little town was nestled in a peaceful valley, then the debris
of the body
came and covered it; now it nestles under ten
feet of garbage.
A photographer was photographing a lovely mountaintop locale, for a
liquor-store
calendar, until the debris of the body came and
smudged the lens, blurring the
photo, inundating the photographer
A grizzly bear climbs a tree to escape its flows
Like a decade's lemmings--if they were a whole lot slower--or the tides
themselves,
it creeps down to the edge of the sea. The light
debris drifting, the heavy hitting
some other fish on the head.
There, the sea is inundated with the flower of fallen hair, worn-off skin,
fingernail
parings, nose pickings, oozed blood, used sperm
(love's leavings!), annoying old
scabs, tears accidentally escaped in wind, tears
meant to be wept, the nether
wastes, the shit and piss of the skin, superannuated
wart parts, etc.
More Of That Dusty Autumnal Background Music
THE WINGS OF THE NOSE
The wings of the nose
I sense them fluttering
Making a passenger
Out of the whole olfactory system
While the brain flies along just for fun
Where are you going, O wildest of widely wandering wings
Where are you taking us, my Sweetie and Me?
"I am taking you someplace where you will like it
I am trying to find a place where you can rest
and enjoy the most important sense of things
of all, which is mine.
Haven't you given up other pleasures yet?
Touch, which is just an irritation
Taste, which I view with distaste
Hearing, which is designed simply to put
a strain on you
Sight, which is something I have never
quite been able to see
Just in case you haven't yet abandoned them
come with me now
aloft in my own sensational
flying machine
Spend all your time
Wandering with me all day long, not to the places you want to go to
but to the places you can't resist going to
Let your schedule of appointments be organizing by waftings
O follow follow
So you will say
At the end of the day
'The odor of decay
Is the best and the strongest and the sweetest
--Even the smell of fire on bone
And rich earth'
About The Halloween Season, Autumn, & Fear of Winter
Darkness
THE AUTUMN VILLAIN
The villain crept by on the slant
towards the Southwest
and the sunset
With his shadow lengthening and following behind him
The brim of the enormous black hat he wore was pulled down
over his eyes, his nose, and his mouth
As if predicting
Days to come when he would have to travel
in almost total shadows
To make up for all his glaring summertime excesses
--Penance for both his suns and his sins
Big brim! It sloped down and even scraped the ground
And when the wind came, draped over the tops of trees
And an investigator
Trying to peer into his eyes
could see only falling
fallen leaves....
Earlier versions of "The Eye of The Assassin," "The Helper," "Mr.
Rainman," "Some Old Men," "The Debris Of The Body," "The Wings Of The Nose"
& "The Autumn Villain" first appeared in THE BODY by Michael Benedikt,
published by Wesleyan University Press, l968, © l968 by Michael
Benedikt.
These revised versions, © l998, l999 & 2000 by Michael
Benedikt. Earlier version of "To Persuade A Lady" first appeared in SKY
by Michael Benedikt, publ. by Wesleyan U. Press, l970, © l970 by Michael
Benedikt. Revised ver., © l998 & l999 by Michael Benedikt.
("Lady"--together with some other Benedikt poems--is also online at website
of The Academy of American
Poets)
Autumnal Music Clip: A theme from film score of Carrie (l976) by Pino
Donnagio. (Dust by Benedikt).
If you liked these Spooky Poems from THE BODY--and
entered this 'Site For All Seasons' at this Halloween-page:
for a page with some other, rather hauntingly unusual selections from THE
BODY which you might like
for Home Page of this BODY/SKY Website
for a Thematic Index of Topics in THE BODY and SKY
& Notes on both books
(New: including many photos --&
also info on where to locate copies of the original editions via online book
search sservices)
Other Themes &Types of Poems in THE BODY
A link to a complete 'Thematic Index
to Body/Sky' is also given at end-of-page at
Links
to Other Pages Within This BODY-SKY Website.
Index categorizes all poems by title/topic.
Categories starred [*]
are followed by Notes & Commentary.
May be helpful to college students writing
Modern Poetry term papers, theses, etc.
Topics which appear in THE BODY include:
The Four Elements--Earth, Air, Water & Fire
Childhood & Youth & Growing Up
Gardens
Time Space
Spirituality
Love Philosophy
[*]
Business
Social Concerns Esthetics Aging &
Death
Film & Theatre
[*]
l960's Art & Artists &
Rock Music [*]
Besides Spooky Poems, other types of poems in THE BODY include:
Poems in Unusual Forms [*] Highly Surrealistic Poems [*] Poems with Multiple Dictional Shifts [*]
Other Pages Within This BODY-SKY
Website
Page 1--Home Page: Benedikt Photos & Bio
Includes 1968 & 1998 photos & more complete bio. info than is given at this page
Page 2--Selections from THE
BODY
Selected poems from the opening sections of this unusual &
much anthologized, Surrealism-influenced first book by
a much-published contemporary US Poet. Early poems in a range of tones--some
cheery, lots dark.
Page 3-- 'Dark Love Poems' from THE BODY
New Page in '01
Page 4-- 'Spooky Poems for Halloween' from THE BODY
This Page, of course! With Urban Legends & Other.
Page 5 --Thematic Index to THE BODY and SKY
A college-level modern poetry resource. Subject-Index categorizing
all poems in both books according to topic, with notes giving a "quick take"
on both books & offering some insight on how these 2 unusual first books
of poems came to be written. Notes so far focus on the philosophy behind
both books, on innovative techniques used in them, & on the multi-media,
visual arts background of both poetry books. (Page intended
as classroom teaching aid. Might be helpful to Undergraduate Students writing
modern poetry course term-papers & Graduate Students writing theses,
etc.).
New in '01: Many additional BODY and SKY-related
thumbnail photos.
(Complete bio. appears in Who's Who in America; WW in World; WW in Entertainment, Who's Who in American Art, etc.)
Selections from many of Benedikt's books also appear at several other Websites
Michael Benedikt has published five collections of poetry: The Badminton at Great Barrington; or, Gustave Mahler & The Chattanooga Choo-Choo (University of Pittsburgh Press, l980)--a book about the joys & sorrows of love; and with Wesleyan University Press, Night Cries (prose poems, l976); Mole Notes (prose poems, l971); Sky (l970); and The Body (l968). He's also the editor of two landmark poetry anthologies: The Prose Poem: An International Anthology (Dell/Laurel, l976); and The Poetry of Surrealism (Little Brown, l974). A former Poetry Editor of The Paris Review, his editorial selections are represented in The Paris Review Anthology (Norton, l990). His recent, l990's poetry has been published in such literary magazines as Agni, Iowa Review, Jerusalem Review, Lips, Michigan Quarterly Review, The New Republic, New York Quarterly, Partisan Review & Paris Review--most recently, a long poem (about Einstein) appeared in Paris Review #151. Benedikt's work is represented in ca. 65 anthologies of US poetry. He's taught Literature and Creative Writing as Visiting Professor at Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire, and Vassar College/s, and at Boston University; and has read from his poetry at various colleges and bookstores around the USA--most recently at various Barnes & Noble superstores in the NY Metro area. He lives in Manhattan, NYC. E-mail at benedit2@aol.com.
Info re background of Benedikt Websites via
feature article at About.com:
'The Compleat Michael Benedikt--Poet
Laureate of The Net'
Spooky photo of Benedikt by Larry Schwartzwald
LINKS TO OTHER BENEDIKT SITES & MINI-SITES
MINI-SITE
PROSE POEM SITES
OTHER SITES
Poems from Boston & Cambridge. Mostly narrative poems. From Transitions (manuscript-in-progress)
The Thesaurus And Other New Verse. Poems in a variety of genres.
From OF: (mss-in-progress).
Includes a
new-in-1/01
page of
'3
Poems In Praise of Peace'
OTHER MINI-SITES
Poem
from OF: re living alone & liking it:
'Of Living Alone But Not Brooding Too Much About It'
Top of Links To Other Benedikt Websites
Top of 'Spooky Poems for Halloween'
Home Page of This BODY/SKY Website
Next & Last Page of Site: Thematic Index (with Notes & Photos)
About.com Featured Site Award
In Case You Couldn't Get Enough Of That Dusty Autumnal Background Music
Other Pages Within This BODY-SKY Website
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