A Quadrille…
Vampires have to be
permitted entry
one night
laid low by other losses
I let you lie with me
bleed me dry
almost
though not enough
to feed your need
you never turned me
sought out fresh blood
but you marked me
for life…
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
This week over at dVerse Poets Pub, dorahak in Quadrille invites us to write a poem on the undead – Vampires…
‘Give us a 44-word poem including the word “vampire” (or a derivative thereof, such as “vamp”)’
I was awakened by another’s insomnia and then couldn’t return to sleep myself so ar 4am this poem sidled into being, but confused by the hour, I wrote 144 words instead of 44 – but I guess they needed to come out and so, having posted it in error, I was challenged by Dora, our host, to distill it down to 44 – it still works I think, but if you want to read the original – hit the Home button to find it below this post…
Beautifully carved out of the original, Drew, the heart of the original, the intensity, I think, finely preserved.
Thank you Dora – it was a good exercise in editing. It was an excellent prompt and I enjoyed all the references – my own favourite film is the Werner Herzog remake of Nosferatu which has one of the most subtly erotica moments in cinema…
I agree with Dora that this one encapsulates the intensity of the original.
The intensity but not some of the nuance but that’s a quadrille…
Fabulous poem. It reminds me of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
I wish, Robbie – we are an afternoon drive away from Whitby where Stoker got the inspiration to write about the ship returning when he lived there and we used to live in County Sligo where there is a deserted village now swallowed by the forestry now which was also supposed to have inspired him when he also lived there… That’s the nearest I got to Stoker. Oh and there is a suitcase in a hotel in Bradford where I work, with B. Stoker tooled into the leather but I suspect it’s fake…
I think the reduction of the original has retained the essence and even fortified its blood.
Thanks, Kim…