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Creeping Dread · Poetry Minific ·
Organised by Anon Y Mous
Word limit 15–1000
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Game of Ruse and Boon
The moon, decaying, shrunken in the sky
To chilling rictus, ghastly, pallid, grim,
Grinned dimly down upon the madling group.
Their leader crept with barely hidden bones
And neat, precisely torn and tattered robes
Along the road. They jeered a ribald song
And dashed towards a door, and struck the gong
That summoned those within to meet their fate.
The gathered spirts on the doorstep howled,
Delivering their imprecations fell;
The threat of evils supernatural
Averted for a certain price... Dark hands
Reached down to place the gifts in open sacks.
The fiends, placated, laughed in high-pitched shrieks,
And turned in bounding capers 'neath the moon
To bring their bargain to the next in line...

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#1 · 1
· · >>GroaningGreyAgony
My favorite noun in this lyric poem is 'Dark hands'. The administrators of the 'boon' are the most teasing and ambiguous feature of this portraiture, and seem to portend an entire world which abounds about our ghouls. Though, I suppose, it's best we aren't too insistent on the matter--otherwise we're in for a 'ruse'.
#2 · 1
· · >>GroaningGreyAgony
Regular rhythm, and the only fault I see in it is the stress pattern of "supernatural." It doesn't use rhymes.

My first impression is that this is one of those switcheroos that sounds all serious at first but turns out to be about trick-or-treaters... and that does turn out to be the case. I really like the mood of this one, and the language describing the moon at the beginning takes a good second to sink in. It's a nice delayed effect. Certainly something that's been done many times before, but a good example of it nonetheless, and it was a fun read. The title is a funny rewording of "trick or treat."
#3 ·
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In spectered garb, I sit with urn of treats,
And watch the children racing down the streets.
It's been so long, I struggled to believe,
But it's as fun to give as to receive.
#4 ·
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>>Heavy_Mole, >>Pascoite

Game of Booze and Ruin

Pasco has it right; while it was not an original conceit, I wanted to describe a common event in an obtuse manner with pretty words. I tried to make it rhyme but judged the result to be too forced. Thanks to everyone for the gold, grats to Heavy and Gris on their gains.