People Change: A Love Story
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
he’s secretly in love with her
alas he only tells her
when they’re about to be replaced
by emotionless imposters
and love is about to be
eradicated from the planet
timing is everything
- The Fly (1986)
they fall in love
then he gets jealous
of her ex-boyfriend
gets sloshed on champagne
and morphs into a giant insect
(sometimes I just watch the first half
of the film, pretend it’s only
the sweet romance between
a scientist and a reporter
they live happily ever after
nothing disintegrates)
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
they’re happily married
sex becomes newly interesting at first
as he roams the increasingly
vast expanse of her body
he continues to diminish
until even the cat wields
more power than him
still he grows more minuscule
until his wife can no longer see him
or hear him calling her name
Illustration by Carrion House
Linda Blair Pantoum
I cut her photo from Famous Monsters
the makeup-caked demon’s gleeful grimace
I haven’t seen the movie yet
her picture is everywhere
the makeup-caked demon’s gleeful grimace
possessed girl with bad skin and matted hair
her picture is everywhere
“that thing upstairs isn’t my daughter”
possessed girl with bad skin, in a shaking bed
twelve year old spitting out expletives
“that thing upstairs isn’t my daughter”
shock of her whisky-and-nicotine voice
twelve year old spitting out expletives
Sarah T. the teenage alcoholic
shock of Mercedes McCambridge’s voice
born innocent babe in juvie
Sarah T. the teenage alcoholic
sweet hostage in Martin Sheen’s speeding car
born innocent babe on TV
I approach adolescence, looking for signposts
sweet hostage in Martin Sheen’s speeding car
I haven’t seen the movie yet
as I approach adolescence, looking for signposts
I cut her photo from Famous Monsters
Gwynne Garfinkle (poetry) lives in Los Angeles. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in such publications as Strange Horizons, Interfictions, Apex, Mythic Delirium, Lackington’s, The Cascadia Subduction Zone, Through the Gate, inkscrawl, and The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk.
Carrion House (artwork) currently lives and works in the South of England. Having recently graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a first-class degree, he is now a full-time illustrator for just about any project that piques his interest. Despite regular forays into children’s books and fairy tales, his true love lies in anything macabre, melancholy, or dark in nature and essence.
Postscripts to Darkness 