Taking an October break from 227 Rules to share some very recent ‘scary’ pieces. How recent? This one was written October 2, 2017. Blood is best fresh and this one is still dripping.
Cape Fever
it was a black satin half-slip
with a hem of red lace
I found in my mother’s dresser
it was cool on my skin
I twisted & turned
in front of the mirror
to see it flow
clutching the waist
around my eight-year-old throat
so it was my black cape
dripping with the blood
I’d dragged it through
but it wasn’t long enough
not full enough
meant for my mother’s narrow hips
when I tried to sweep it up
to cover my face
it fell off
it would never be Dracula’s cape
besides my eye brows were wrong
even after I tired to create
those terrifying arches
using eyebrow forms from
my mother’s Elizabeth Arden make up kit
it had dozens of shapes to
none were arched enough
so I did what I could
by turning one upside down
spectacular
the mouth full of tomato catchup
was impossible
too thick
for it drip over my teeth
or out of the corners of my mouth
the red was wrong
beet juice was the right colour
but way too thin
the two didn’t mix well either
but those eyebrows were spectacular
they scared even me
in the mirror
when I held a flashlight under my chin
all I needed was the right cape
and a victim
