Poe Stories: A Collection Of Creepy Poetry
Posted on October 28 2024 by Alexandria Weber
A few years ago, when I was beginning to foster and nurture my love for creative writing, I began to fall back in love with poetry for the first time since high school. One of the ways in which I interacted with the Zelda community was on Tumblr.com, where a plethora of fantastic artists shared their works. I began to reblog their work and add poetry I wrote in the moment inspired by it, partially to promote and celebrate their work, and partially to give myself a bit of a writing challenge.
I later learned that writing poetry inspired by art has a long-standing history, evolving from ekphrasis (the act of describing an image with words). Once a way for art to become more accessible, ekphrasis evolved into a way for the poet to interpret a work of art, to interact with it in a deep, soulful, and inherently collaborative way. What was an instinct for me as a blossoming writer was the same instinct that poets began to have in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The following collection of poems are my attempts to recreate the eerie. Images included are done so with permission of the artist. Poems inspired by art that was not given permission stand on their own with a link to the original piece.
By Green I Grey
The above piece of art is by Tumblr user mochiwei. It was created for the Atelier Hylia Blood Moon Tomes zine.
The artist was inspired by the 16th century artist Caravaggio, in particular his work entitled “Narcissus,” and used the dichotomy between Link and Dark Link in Ocarina of Time to recapture the creepy duality of the original.
By water’s edge a silver sight is born
With bleeding eyes, perches like a storm
Drown’d in black, streak’d in greys not worn
Naught a ripple to disturb the water’s graceful norm
Closer still I beckon, to thou in mirrored nigh
I plead to break free, to seep into thy
The Epitaph
The piece of art that inspired this next poem can be found on Tumblr.
It was created to mimic a still-life painting from the 16th and 17th centuries.
If death is where I rest thine head
Then where shall I lift it?
When life is something hence unknown
And survival is thy epitaph
Then where shall I lift it?
It cannot be just that love
And survival is thy epitaph
Nine years is far too little
It cannot be just that love
Nine years is far too little
When life is something hence unknown
If death is where I rest thine head
In Time
The above piece of art is by Tumblr user Judithan-xing.
Locked right into fates eternal
Clutching hopes of love infernal
‘Til like wolves I live nocturnal
And curse this never-ending diurnal
Rest
The piece of art that inspired this next poem can be found on Tumblr.
Sometimes I think
Of bones and how
beyond the clothes, the skin
That’s all I am inside
Chosen
The above piece of art is by Tumblr user ezdotjpg.
Fingers crest upon my bones
And smiles crack along the cheeks
Of smoothly chiseled blocks of stone
–
To good I clutch, for good I’m trapped
In The Ripples I Started
The piece of art that inspired this next poem can be found on Tumblr.
Smiles back at me
That part of me I see
That makes me think that we
Are something I’ve set free
Pale Moonlight
The above piece of art is by Tumblr user arrythmiacomic (aka Luck).
When I met them
I wondered
If they thought I was one of them
When I left them
I wondered
What else I was before
Nothing To Fear
The pieces of art that inspired this next poem can be found on Tumblr.
You say you’re in a nightmare
But why would you want to leave?
If you have the power to make it a dream
Why waste your time being afraid?
–
–
–
We don’t bite
The Sleeping Swordsman
The above piece of art is by Tumblr user whispyart.
Yes…
Yes
That’s it
Sleep
Sleep away
I’ll take
care
Of You
Do you enjoy a good ghost story around this time of the year? Have you got any Poe stories of your own? Let us know in the comments below!
Alexandria Weber is a Senior Editor and an aspiring creative writer. Her favorite food is apple pie and she loves her cat Galadriel. Ask her for pictures!