Sprawled on faded flaccid couch,
she snores guttural gumpfs and wheezes.
A warped pendulum creaks . . . shudders . . . stops . . .
clock face sags in disrepair.
Rodent feet in plaster-dust slippers
scurry inside flaking walls.
Spotlight dims. Floorboards creak.
Vamp sounds of decay.
Enter Death as curtain falls.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. It’s Quadrille Monday (a poem of 44 words – not including the title – no more; no less). Today Victoria is hosting and asks to use the word “sound.” Bar opens at 3 PM Boston time! PS: after a wonderful month + trip that included a TransAtlantic cruise and cruises through the Norwegian Fjords, Iceland and Ireland, it’s great to be home! Enjoying my regular early morning writing and reading time again.
lillian the home poet 
I like your form which feels like a theatre or movie script…very vivid sounds and sights… the scurrying mice with plaster-dust slippers are great.
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So glad you enjoyed, Janice. I should say, when we were first married we rented an old farmhouse and at night, you could really hear the little creatures scurrying through the walls. I was very glad to move out of that place!
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Yikes, Lillian. I love dark poetry and this certainly has a Poe-feel to it. Creepy.
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Yep —- creepy crawly creatures in the walls….
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It’s so much daylight here… so I cannot think of dark nights and horrors like this… 🙂
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Oh yes…..while in Iceland we had very very long days. Summer Solstice is coming your way! 🙂 Enjoy the light my friend…….
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I know you have been on holiday but a Quadrille is still 44 words, not 40! :o)
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OMG!!!! I need to be retrained after 30+ days away!!! Feeling rather ridiculous right now…and I worked so hard to pare it down. Well, shall make those extra 4 words in just a few moments….and edit the text below. Really……I need retraining!!!
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No worries, it is a beautiful testimony to the wonderful and relaxing holiday you had :o) xxx
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Smiling & waving back ~ Hi Lillian ~ This is dark and morbid scene as very soon Death is coming ~
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So so glad to be back with the pub! 🙂
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I really like how you are using time in this poem, especially that image of the clock.
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Thank you! So glad you enjoyed.
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Love the dark feel of this, Lill.
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Maybe I should repost at halloween! 🙂
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Oh I love how this grows outward from that flaccid sofa. Brilliant. Welcome back.
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Thank you, Paul. Somehow the word “flacid” popped into my mind with the image I was conjuring up….it’s an interesting sounding word let alone the meaning….Glad you enjoyed and thanks for the welcome back!
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Great vivid imagery in a chilling piece. Well done!
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Glad you enjoyed!
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Final scene indeed. Yes the “sounds” you related & conjured were haunting & real. I, too, lived in an old farm house for a time; pack rats, cockroaches, wasp nests, and ants in the cabinets; what fun.
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Good to see you again, Glenn! Feels good to be back at the pub although our trip was outstanding. I must say, I thought of you as I was doing this….the movie or dramturgy aspect of it. Vamp sound….final curtain…
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WOW! Something wicked this way comes. Surely it was a dark and stormy night … (and a rabid bat stole the other 4 words!)
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Yep……but that old bat regurgitated them for me and there are now 44! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the dark side with me.
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Very dramatic and reminiscent of an old black and white horror film – with sound effects. I love it Lillian!
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Thank you Kim. Yep….and the illustration could be straight out of a black and white film like that too….there should be crows flying near. Kind of like those old spooky stories we told around the campfire or at slumber parties, holding a flashlight under our chin!
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Fabulous! 🌹😎
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Thank you!
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Vamp sounds of decay… is such a powerful image!
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Hah! Just realized a double entendre meaning here….I meant to “vamp” the sounds….as in a movie direction to cue in on the sounds, make the louder. My guess is from all the comments, although I did write this from the “dark side” that some may have thought it was short for vampire?? Glad you enjoyed, Sanaa.
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Ah! I thought it was something like that 😀 Cool!❤️
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What a pleasure to read aloud.
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Oh, thank you so much for this comment. I always do read my poems aloud as I’m editing them. And I always read aloud everyone else’s poems too. So I really appreciate your reply here! 🙂
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Great imagery here.
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Thank you. So glad you enjoyed!
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Very rich language, I especially like the rodents in plaister dust slippers. I hope mine aren’t as well attired, lol
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Yes….some little critters like to adorn themselves 🙂
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Uptown rodents
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Creepy! Well done.
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Thank you! Glad to be back and good to see you here, Linda. I’m slipping over to read as soon as I get my coffee! Jet lagged still a bit….so up a little later today after being up several times during the night 😦
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Such a scene you have painted here, Lillian. Wonderful! & welcome home – we’ve missed you but certainly enjoyed your photos 🙂
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Hi Jilly! Good to be back and able to post and read! Jet lag still hanging on a bit….so up a few times during night and then slept in a bit. Will slip over to do my reading as soon as I get my morning elixir. It sure is nice to have connectivity and time to read dVerse again! But we did have a glorious trip! Today’s post (Tuesday) has more photos 🙂
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Grab that coffee and share those pics! I’ve been vacationing vicariously through you and loving every minute.
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“Rodent feet in plaster-dust slippers” All of it, really. And the image as well. Nice!
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We really did live in an old farm house in our early days of marriage. Rental. The hog shed was across our driveway and in the summer we had that lovely scent as well as these scurrying sounds at night! But the garden and fresh vegetables were glorious 🙂
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Well, there you go. Doesn’t it always seem to go… Could be a song lyric lurking in there.
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Quite creepy indeed.
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“Creepy” seems to be the consensus 🙂
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What a wonderfully creepy final scene, Lill…well illustrated; I could hear those scampering little feet!
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So good to be back. Glad you enjoyed!
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Dark and dramatic, death does creep in most unexpected ways.
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Dramatic….yes — that’s what I was aiming to do….paint the sounds and sights of a final scene. And I left it so you wonder what death looks like at the door — or is it death in all of the images? Glad you enjoyed.
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What a truly atmospheric offering! Love the mice scurrying in plaster slippers. We renovated an old stone house and rodents are such a reality in old houses.
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They sure are! We had those scurrying little scratching sounds at night in the first old farm house we rented! Glad you enjoyed, Cynthia!
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How sad, to die in such a dilapidating place – once again, your words took me there. 🙂
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Exactly. Can’t remember the Dickens story that included Miss Havisham living in a spooky old place with spiderwebs etc…but that was the picture that popped into my head and then I extrapolated from there. The clock was actually my favorite image here……….but most everyone responded more to the plaster slippers 🙂 Guess that mice and rodents get more of a reaction.
Always nice to read your comments, Adda. Thanks so much for following! It’s good to be back to my regular writing….although our travels were fabulous!
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I did like the plaster-dust slippers too 🙂 Glad you are back safe and sound.
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I liked the pendulum stopping as death occurs like that old song about the grandfather’s clock.
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Glad you enjoyed, Frank.
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Great, very palpable description here.
Your trip destinations sound intriguing, btw. 🙂
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It was an amazing 30+ days – especially our time in Norway, Ireland and Iceland!
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Oh, wow! 30+ days, so you really got to spend some time in each place. It does sound amazing.
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Awesome and creepy! I love it! 🙂
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Kind of fun to be creepy every once in a while! 🙂
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“Rodent feet in plaster dust slippers…”. Wonderful!
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I did smile when I finally came up with that — was shifting words around, thinking about the flaking plaster. 🙂
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Lovely and dark! Your sound descriptions are superb 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed. Thank you!
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“Vamp sounds of decay” is a great image.
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Ah glad you enjoyed. Many thanks!
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Superb,
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Thank you Alison! 🙂
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Wow! A powerful description of the final scene. Love the sound and symbolism of the warped pendulum. Your vacation sounds heavenly. ❤
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It was indeed……and so glad you enjoyed this one!
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the sounds when a house is settling and the creatures that come out o play – liked this one very much, reminded me of trying to fall asleep but afraid to close my eyes – lovely that you are happy to be back home to reading and writing routine, always lovely that after a holiday away
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Oh I sometimes do believe that houses live and breathe! 🙂
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