Hi All
It's a wonderful day to shine the spotlight on an individual I find highly talented. Today - on the Jimmy Broccoli page (and later, on the website) - I am honored to share with you the poetry of Alexis Child!
After being first introduced to Alexis' poems, I became an immediate fan. Alexis' work often adventures into the darker sides of life (which I enjoy) and she is a fantastic storyteller!
Here is Alexis in her own words:
Alexis Child hails from Toronto, Canada; home to dreams and nightmares. Besides having rare mystical experiences she hopes are not just short circuits in the brain, she offers Tarot Readings and writes macabre poetry and fiction, starving in the garret with her muse. A starving child is a frightful sight. A starving vampire is even worse. Please donate non-perishable food items and B-negative blood (and make it a double!).
Alexis’ poetry and fiction has been featured in numerous online and print publications. Her debut collection of horror poetry, Devil in the Clock, is available on Amazon, followed by Singing the Bones (Cyberwit Publishing, 2022). Alexis is set to publish her third collection of poetry, Exquisite Corpse, in future. You have been warned...
Please visit Alexis’ YouTube Channel:
Here are 3 poems from Alexis' upcoming collection of poems, "Exquisite Corpse" - and, I'm certain you'll enjoy them as much as I do! ______________
The Ghosts Are Walking (Again)
My soul struggles against illusion Nightmare tumbles out into morning Hear the spectres scream Feel the vampires stirring to the beat Of your heart,
As twisted leaves of autumn fall An eerie gloom engulfs In dark disgrace Look madness in the face The footsteps of this slaughtered age Are strange and vague,
The spirits of the dead Are walking, eating my Bones again and the moon Foe of sleep carries my sorrow To the grave,
Tragedy sits in the tawny vapors Among the smoggy city lanes Like a disembodied spirit I do not know where I have been And now I am no longer there,
The years dismiss This restless flesh with scorn Love has passed away The things I have seen Cannot be unseen,
You were gone in the silence And stealth of the dawn The nameless tricksters Cause fear for all,
Hear the spectres scream Feel the vampires stirring To the beat of your heart Beneath the cold stare On Hallows Eve,
The ghosts rise from their tombs With startled eyes for all they desire Tonight, my love, it’s a full moon,
“You must come home,” I plead Appealing to the heavens Long after tears are dry,
At the dawning of All Saints day Like a prisoner in the window My heart is a harbor for ghosts The past is not your home Not anymore. Let it go.
The ghosts are walking again Death is close The graves give up their dead They are not coming back to you.
Broken-hearted, pale grows the cheek Cold on tearful pillows When love is gone, life is too.
© 2023 Alexis Child. All rights reserved. ____
The Demon's Daughter
With each chill, reproachful wraith Are your ghosts haunting tonight? I am possessed, scared for my life Hell bound, I whisper Legion Not yet exorcised
My inner demons Mingle in licentious dance Encompassed with wild hymns Demonic infection glows pure fire Pastor Jim said, I had a demon lust A Jezebel Spirit
In vain, the Priest's prayers prove To be of no avail This soul possessed wails And yields to no cross Slithering on the ceiling and walls
Speaking in a choir of tongues A wretched spawn crawls within This many-voiced monster Something haunted and unholy Distressed heir of hell froths At the mouth
I did not know evil until it touched The shadow of my soul The City weeps not for me For Heaven is on earth For me to experience, they say
And with the sun there comes The dawn with its pale Dreams and false hopes I inhale their beautiful lies
Do I need a miracle or An exorcism for this curse That holds me hostage?
Clad in shadow, many thought me dead Guilty of my living coffin For all that cannot be forgotten I know I must do a self-exorcism
For the other side of me is a devil Who is waiting to bring hell on earth To the pulse of a steady heartbeat The secrets I keep no one knows
Pleading to be sane The voices still call my name What's in my head I can't control Now I am afraid I am waking up the ghost
I call the ghosts of heaven To fill me with all blessings Sometimes see the devil In a fog of make-believe
I lay my skeleton down Amongst the jeering crowd I stare at my wounded beauty
My feeble heart grows wings I'm trying to whisper louder To convince myself I have worth No one listens anymore
In this self-built lonely prison The devil licks his lips Determined to have me In his grip
Pleading to break down The strong walls Death comes knocking In opposition, seek The Kingdom of God
The hiss of demonic tongues Could swallow the stars You are just a pawn And like a rag doll
He'll tear out your heart Jezebel Priest, I’m in the armpit Of f***king beastly hell!
My soul is gone forever I just want peace I just want death After my last breath!
© 2023 Alexis Child. All rights reserved. ____
The Art of Drowning
I throw her to the water's edge, Cover her with stones. I regret, but then forget Her cold beauty that carried me away, Where the sun now sleeps completely.
An evil conscience of glory and relief Makes me think the Devil is the master Of this skill. How lovely she is on a bed of flowers. There is a morbid charm where a sob Escapes under frothy blood.
My soul trembles on the banks of death, Where she is swept away, Far from the sight of God There is still a guilty desire For the laughter of the sea; Her poisonous eyes To breathe life into me.
A scarlet tear runs from her cheek. This is goodbye. The crooked shadows of night With shame wake the dead. Heaven and Hell collide. Please don't be gone. Just one more miracle?
Drowning in her panicky moans, The tide came to pull me from below I realized she was indeed, a ghost, Illuminate in haunting melancholia of exile. Her pale blue eyes rage like the sea, To enter a garden alive with memory's beasts.
In a world both beautiful and grotesque, She sings the bones together In shadows to play dead. In the shape of a blossom that appears Not in ghosts but, wild flowers she is near.
© 2023 Alexis Child. All rights reserved.
Photo: Alexis Child.
