Linda M. Crate - In the Labyrinth / Be Careful What You Wish For

in the labyrinth 

he fell into an endless labyrinth

everywhere he looked

there was a monster

some human, some not

in the end

they all wore fangs and masks and claws

he knew eventually they'd

tear through him

scatter his ruby red blood like leaves

upon the ground;

but all he wanted was to live

yet it seemed the more he wanted sometimes the

more it were denied him—

he opened his eyes

the nightmare was real but he didn't want to believe it

dulling his own senses wouldn't help him

survive yet he didn't want to succumb;

choice wasn't afforded him

as he felt his life flee.

be careful what you wish for 

they had to be invited in,

but how could 

she tell them that he was

her secret sin

that she left the window open

every night hoping the

monster would come?

perhaps,

it was her desperation that drove

him far away;

but she wanted him to own him and possess him

and she wanted to be his

until the day she looked out through fluttering drapes

and he was there

with eyes redder than the angriest moon

then she feared the searing power

of his blood lust hunger.






Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. Recently her two chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013) and Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon - January 2014) were published. Her fantasy novel Blood & Magic was published in March 2015. Her novel Dragons & Magic is forthcoming through Ravenswood Publishing.