Poetry
Hell House
A rhyming prompted poem
Once, laughter echoed through these halls
as sunlight burst through windowpanes
and happy feet pattered to answer your calls
with the assurance that love forever reigns
Now, cobwebs creep like varicose veins
as dust gathers where tears once fell
and the only sounds are rattling chains
and a lingering, ghostly sulphuric smell
Here now, only random teenagers dwell
to drink, smoke, and release their rage
far from watchful eyes, the stories they tell
of societal abuse and their coming of age
They sense this place understands outrage
and these walls will never betray
but they know nothing of the haunts’ disengage
that’s bound to lead them all astray
For hellish terror is imprinted here
and their immanent deaths are always near
©2024 Lori Carlson. All rights reserved.
I am participating in the PoCoChapMo ’24 over at The Poetry Cove, hosted by UK poet, Adam Gary. Tuesday’s prompt is ‘an abandoned house in a rural hamlet’.
FYI: The use of ‘immanent’ instead of ‘imminent’ is on purpose here. It denotes that their deaths are ‘built-in’. They may not know when it will come, but Hell House will claim them.
