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Richard Spilman

The Horror

​There are times in every horror flick
when the inklings become real,
 
when ordered domesticity yields
to the rattle in the wall, the man
 
in the shadows, masked and armed
with instruments of torture,
 
when things long dead impale
whatever has replaced them
 
and every break from conformity
meets the saw or the cleaver.
 
We should be prepared then
for this new misadventure,
 
when the savior in his decaying
boat brings us to the heart
 
of darkness, to the charlatan
who knows that shrunken heads
 
offer the completest sacrifice.
For in the empire of avarice
 
you need a boatload of cannibals
to bring home the rotting corpse
 
of the old century, a charlatan
blaming all he came to exploit
 
for the sickness, the fever,
the hunger he cannot control.

Biography

Picture
Richard Spilman was born and raised in Normal, Illinois, half a block from Main Street and on the banks of Sugar Creek. In some ways, he has never escaped. He is the author of In the Night Speaking and of a chapbook, Suspension. He is also the author of two books of short fiction, Hot Fudge and The Estate Sale.
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ISSN 2639-426X
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  • Home
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  • Issues
    • Issue 49
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    • Issue 47
    • Issue 46
    • Issue 45
    • Issue 44
    • Issue 43
    • Issue 42
    • Issue 41
    • Issue 40
    • Issue 39
    • Issue 38
    • Issue 37
    • Issue 36
    • Issue 35
    • Issue 34
    • Issue 33
    • Issue 32
    • Issue 31
    • Issue 30
    • Issue 29
    • Issue 28
    • Issue 27
    • Issue 26
    • Issue 25
    • Issue 24
    • Issue 23
    • Issue 22
    • Issue 21
    • Issue 20
    • Issue 19
    • Issue 18
    • Serenity
    • Issue 17
    • The Audio Room
    • Issue 16
    • Issue 15
    • Issue 14
    • Play It Again
    • Issue 13
    • Issue 12
    • Issue 11
    • Issue 10
    • Issue 9
    • Issue 8
    • Issue 7
    • Issue 6
    • Hand to Mouth
    • Issue 5
    • Issue 4
    • Issue 3
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 1
  • Submissions