I’ll start at the toes,
short,
and not quite in joint
with one another.
Pause around the ankles.
Suckle them
like gobstoppers
to the marrow.
Crunch shin and calf,
ravish thighs
till the fat glistens
along my jawbone.
Pick the pelvis clean,
pop each ovary
between thumb
and forefinger.
Still juicy and ripe.
Pull intestines,
lungs, liver, heart,
kidneys free.
Mince into a pie.
Portion each breast
out with the cuts
to ensure a moist
cook.
Lick the remains clean
from each finger.
Grind the bones
between my teeth.
Leave one hand for eyeballs,
seasoned tongue
tastes a lot like ox,
ears more like bacon.
At the end,
begin again.
With Halloween just a couple of days away, I thought I’d share one of the more monstrous poems from my poetry collection, ‘It’s All In The Blood’ which sounds like a much darker collection when associated with this poem on its own.
Carol J Forrester 
Indeed, quite horrifying!
Thank you Lucy.
This was fiendishly good and I’m worried what your husband made you for dinner now 😂
Haha, spaghetti Bolognese. Not quite as dark I’m afraid but far less disturbing.
This was really quite gruesome… I imagined being eaten alive when you read.
I wrote it from the point of view of someone consuming themselves, so that’s a perfect comment to get.
It was absolutely amazing to hear you read today, Carol! 💝 You are gifted 🙂
Thank you so much, it was so lovely to see everyone in a live setting.
Mmmmm…Delicious!
I got here as quickly as I could to experience this again. The page does your live presentation justice.
Thank you Ron.
Very gruesome indeed !
Indeed.
Hearing you read this tonight gave me quite a start! Things that go bump — and crunch — in the night!
My apologies. I’m glad to hear the poem had an impact.
No apologies needed, Carol!
I was concentrating on the reading and didn’t recognise the poem until I saw it on my screen. I have It’s All In The Blood on my Kindle, and dip into it from time to time. Your reading gave it an extra monstrous quality, Carol! My favourite lines for sound and yuckiness are:
‘Pause around the ankles.
Suckle them
like gobstoppers
to the marrow’
and
‘Pick the pelvis clean,
pop each ovary
between thumb
and forefinger.’
Thank you Kim, it’s really lovely to hear that you like the book. I really enjoy preforming this poem mostly because of the horrified looks from people who’ve never met me before.
Such a wonderful, visceral poem! So full of sounds–and ickiness that made my skin crawl. It was great to hear you read it.
Thank you.
OH this is a creepy one!!! And even more so with your reading of it. YIKES! I was almost to the point of having my stomache turn inside out with this one! And yep….you definitely achieved the dark side, the Halloween write with this one! WOW!
Haha, thank you Lillian.
OH how I wish I had made it to the Meet before doors were locked! This is an amazing write, amazing. Loved reading it, would love to hear it.
The reading was recorded and Bjorn will he posting it as some point so you can enjoy this grim masterpiece all over again. 😊
A shiver for sure! This brought back inklings of Sweeny Todd!! Well done!