*Update 31/10/2013 – I’m linking this back to Hastywords and her Halloween post (http://hastywords.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/halloween-prompt/). Happy Halloween folks and enjoy the piece – it is a timeless classic and scary to boot!*

Daily Prompt – Nightmares
by Michelle W. on February 19, 2013

“Describe the last nightmare you remember having. What do you think it meant?”

Howdy guys and gals.

I’ve decided to tackle this prompt by writing a piece in honour of the late, great Edgar Allan Poe on the advice of a friend (Many thanks Linda!) and since Edgar’s wonderful prose is very poetic, I though I would also produce a story based poem.

Enjoy the piece.

The Ghost of Poe (by David Ellis)

Sitting yonder by the window frame, as I deeply ponder
Sleepless nights and of dreamscapes which I cannot wake
The darkness beckons me, a thick, black tar filled sea
Where forgotten realms, wispy, smoky, take lucid shape

Quicksand would be quick but this is far, far from it
Smothering, enveloping me in a vintage, accursed breath
Fighting foolishly, a ghastly, exasperating abomination
Fear, frustration and devastation strewn across my bed

Chasing danger and desire through an endless forest
Stared at by aggressive animals casting evil shadows
Snow swirling in a storm stripping me of direction
I have no choice but to soldier on and keep on going

Making sense of this peculiar nonsense slowly at first
Each piece of the puzzle falling delicately into place
Then wolves! They howl in sonorous rhythm together as one
Aching to jump my bones and make me their helpless victim

Through fevered illusions, I see you, tasting the blood of our love
A hazy malaise, I swallow, half-crazed, until I’ve eaten far too much
Snakes, rats and monsters then take turns invading my consciousness
Clamouring for attention, screaming at the top of their voices

Speaking in tongues, a myriad of guttural, quizzical languages
Pointing their paws and claws as fingers, accusatory glances
Then you pounce, a scolding ice queen banishing them away
Before turning your misguided wrath and ire, directing it at me

You murdered innocence for the sake of your own convenience
Slaked your own lust at the expense of another’s feelings
So now it’s inside the walls of my mind where you will reside
Brick by painful brick, I’ve blocked you off and left you to die

At times I wonder, sitting despondently, if I have been possessed
Does the Ghost of Poe and his visions reside within my reluctant chest?
Will I ever shake off the shackles of this nightmarish experience?
Will I ever be able to yearn, to burn, to find true love again?

Or will I sink without a trace, deep into this darkness?
I would ask a raven or a cat but they would not answer back
But I now have faith in love, it’s not the nightmare it once was
Finding solace in prose and comfort in elegant, gorgeous words

So I’ll use them to create worlds and make ours a better place
Banishing the pain and suffering that you helped to create
The Ghost of Poe has taught me that I really should let go
And with it my nightmares will pale and no longer haunt me so
Forever more

Want to read more posts on the topic of nightmares? Here are some post from my fellow blogging friends:-

1. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | The Gozum Show
2. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « cognitive reflection
3. The world is infinitely stranger than anything the mind of man can invent… « Q the Adult
4. Daily Prompt:Eaten By Lions « Natalie Elizabeth Beech
5. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | My Overactive Dreams | Loading…
6. Human rights abuses in mental health facilities « Mind Heart Journeys
7. DP: Nightmares – that kill « A Blog’s Life
8. Nightmares – I’m Afraid Of The Dark
9. Daily Prompt: No Nightmares Here Anymore | My Blog
10. Daily Post: Nightmares | tel-uh-vizh-uh-ner-ee
11. The Shrink | Mind of a Mouse
12. Nightmares! | بيسان
13. In my dreams | Angel Frouk
14. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « DiaryCube
15. Daily Prompt: Nightmares 19th February 2013 « ittikorn1994
16. “EXTER-MI-NAAATE!” « Sandra’s scribbles
17. I Live In Oz, But Visit Kansas For My Dreams | The Jittery Goat
18. Nightmare « amateurxpress
19. what does it mean? | thematticuskingdom
20. The Story of a Recurring Nightmare | Beyond Beauty Tips
21. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | Daddy’s Naughty Little Girl
22. Gah! | One for the Big Guy.. sometimes.
23. Never ending stream of pee and other nightmares that I’ll never forget | Phelio a Random Post a Day
24. DREAM ASYLUM ANALYSIS « hastywords
25. Deep Blues | Pondering Spawned
26. Boo! | Chasing The Bubble
27. Three Haunting Recurring Nightmares – What Do They Mean? | steph’s scribe
28. When Dreams and Reality Collide | Sorta Ginger: Ramblings of a Quasi-Redhead
29. Nightmare. | ayimas
30. Daily Prompts: When nightmares echo reality. | Multifarious meanderings
31. Dreamscapes and Nightmares | Random Encounters of an Inquisitive Mind
32. Daily Prompt: Nightmares, I Haven’t Had Any « A YoungEmt’s Blog
33. Daily Prompt: Nightmares and Desperation | Creative Mysteries
34. Stop Using My Air! | Shadoza: In My World
35. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | Waggingmytale’s Blog
36. Daily Prompt: Nightmare -.- « it’s just abOut Me 🙂
37. Nightmares « thelissachronicles
38. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss
39. Nightmares | The Nameless One
40. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « baka’s blog
41. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « Lines by Linda
42. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « Bipolar For Life
43. Steel Walls and Rivets « Cheri Speak
44. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | The Blogging Path
45. DP: Nightmares « Life of Me and Mine
46. PAD: Nightmares «
47. Run you little, fxxk, RUN! « thoughtsofrkh
48. The Recurring Nightmare | In My Mother’s Mind
49. Nightmares « So I Went Undercover
50. Daily Prompt: Nightmares – oh yes, I remember this one! « From the C-Sweet
51. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « Mama Bear Musings
52. Godzilla « theloneshewolf
53. I Dream in Epic Adventures, Not Nightmares | ARay of Sunshine
54. Nightmares | A Sign Of Life
55. Storm’s coming « Confessions Of A Drow
56. Nightmares « Things I See and Know
57. Daily Prompt: Nightmares … what’s it got to do with a female horse? | Fasting, Food and other musings by determined34
58. The Opposite of Dreams | thebayarean
59. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « motherofnine9
60. You are Not The Biggest Loser | Honey Did you See that?
61. Sur-reality Check | Wiley’s Wisdom
62. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « huntprayerpoems
63. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « Rosevoc2’s Blog
64. When the World Ends, Then What: Time to Dream New Possibilities « 350 Dreamers
65. The Most Recent Nightmare | realdale
66. Daily Prompt: Nightmares or Daymares? | Writing Canvas
67. Daily Prompt: Nightmares: Vivid beyond Belief | The Wondering College Student
68. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | Basically Beyond Basic
69. Demons On A Warm Summer’s Day! | All Those Small Things
70. I Was Shaking | Flipping Channels
71. Daily Prompt: Nightmares « ღ Blank Doodles ღ
72. Not Your Conventional Nightmare « Now Writing Every Day
73. Thank you Daily Prompt… | Angel Frouk
74. The Dark Nightmares | Mike Sensitivity
75. Nightmare, singular. | Sammy’s Moleskine
76. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | cdvisions inspirations
77. Musings: What About Nightmares? | Mirth and Motivation
78. Nightmare island: D is for danger « justmomentarily
79. Daily Prompt: Nightmares | genieve celada | photography
80. Musings: What About Nightmares? – The Blog FarmThe Blog Farm