This year we have decided to dig up an oldie but a goodie. Welcome to our 2021 Halloween Horror Haiku contest. People tend to have a lot of fun with this one. We are going to publish the top 3 haikus on a page with links for the authors bios and social networking profiles.
Haiku has to be a traditional form, but we are not going by conventions. Five 7 Five is ok here. Also the Haiku must be Horror. Scarier the better. We want scary, ironic, terrifying, monstrous, but not gross. I don’t like gross poetry, it makes me woozy. Gory is ok, but not graphic, if you can walk that line.
Anyway quick rules:
Haiku
5 7 5 form
Scary, freaky, ironic, not gross
Deadline is October 30, 2021
Post the Haiku in the comments below
If you have any questions the only other answers I have is this example. I wrote it. It’s not fantastic or anything. Also, I’ve screwed up the count many times on these things, so if it is off, you let me know in the comments:
Ex-lover
The transformation
left her naked, shivering
beside the remains
I know it’s not traditional to put a title with it, but I think it’s a nice touch, so feel free.
Write your haiku in the comments below, enter as many times as you like. 1 haiku per comment please. Some people are reporting not seeing the entries on this page. We are working on the issue. Click here to see the current entries.
(Note: you do not have to register or login to our site to leave a haiku or comment. All comments are currently being moderated, so it may take a little while for your poem to appear)
Follow him on Twitter, and check out our Submissions page.
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Bike wheels left spinning
for candy more trick than treat.
Kids don’t play there now.
change
the monarchs are cold,
frozen in shadows, in frost,
halted migration
dark clouds an omen,
wild wind like coyote howls —
the storm has begun.
hidden in vineyards
grapes turn into bottled wine
and bones blend with vines
woodpeckers tap tap
on skeletons and souls lost
wandering the trees
The Tall Man by Grady Allen
He was there. Standing in my doorway every night. Just watching me. I don’t know how he got there, or why he was there. But he was. I could hear his staggered breathing. He sounded of death, and smelled of rot. At morning he would disappear back to our basement.
They didn’t know. 11:00 pm, and dark. Far from light. They shouldn’t have been there, they should have known. Impossible to see but he didn’t need to, he knew they were there, and he didn’t like them. He decided. They didn’t know. Oh god they didn’t know. Gone.
From beneath the bed,
the monster trembled in fear
of the child above.
Evil dressed as good.
Angels dressed up as devils.
Nothing is ever good.
Drunk parents two kids
One twists the head off a cat
One twists brain in knots
Ghosts witches goblins
But the scariest of all
Mallow Cups in bag
2021 Horror Haiku
Terror in city.
A killer takes to the streets
with no mask on.
Sound of a chainsaw
hungry man laughs at it all
liver for dinner.
Basement stairs descend
fright takes hold from within
down you go anyway.
graveyard alive
body tremble on first see
making burnout world
Wind is blowing far
Kids are after the candy
And some for much more
chuckling snores
a broken teddy drowse
in stain cloth
SLASHER
Cocky kids cower
Something wicked this way comes
Freddy? No, Jason.
STRAWMAN ARISEN.
Dorothy? Brains. Brains.
If I only had a brain…
Crack. Munch. My pretty.
CHILD’S PLAY
He bit me! Blood streams.
Cursed. Not a Good Guy, Andy.
A f**king Chucky.
JaSon.
Drowned by Mom Mom Mom
But when I do die. I don’t.
Masked chants, “Kill Kill Kill “
HALLOWEEN 2021
I’ll Be Watching You
On Sunday, Bloody, Sunday.
Breaking Hearts and Bones
Spooky, scary nights
candies, parties and laughing
horror is alive.
HANNIBAL GOURMET
Hell’s Kitchen serving
Gray matter fava tartare
Mixed with thoughts of you
WHO YA GONNA CALL?
Thwack. Vocal chords slashed.
Silence. I can’t scream, you can’t.
Scream to save our lives.
The lonely vampire
Tracing his blood relatives
In the old graveyard
The Eater
Red lips caked with blood
Bits of flesh hanging from teeth-
His latest victim
SWAYING
The leafless branch moaned
Beneath the weight of the rope
The dead man hung from
THE AGE OF ATOM
The siren sounded
A flash of blinding light
Wiped out the city
HUNGER PANGS
Ninety days at sea
Stranded without any food-
Devouring my leg
SALLY
The old man brought flowers
And laid them down on his wife’s lap-
They slid off her corpse
THE NEIGHBOR
Their daughter missing
Sirens and her parent’s screams-
Music to my ears
THE GIRL I KILLED
Every single night
The girl I killed visits me
Covered in maggots
URDERER IN THE WOODS
A roaring chainsaw
Feet bleeding, they keep running
But there’s no escape
INSIDIOUS
World at a crawl,
Head spinning as he explains
That I have cancer
THE BEAST
Deep down in the depths
The ocean, dark and alone-
Leviathan wakes
I, THE VICTIM
Fangs dripping with blood
It takes another bite of flesh-
Pray for a quick death
ANTICHRIST
It ate through her gut
The pregnant mother screaming-
The child, a monster
THE RITUAL
The infant screaming
The priest walked it to the cliff-
Sacrificial lamb
THE MOUNTAINEER
He fell, broke both legs
All alone, he screamed for help-
Only wolves answer
PUMPKIN SLASHER
Butcher wields his knife
Gouging eyes out just for fun
His wicked grin shines
Love it!!
I felt the red eyes
Where breath and nails serve to haunt
Am I alone here?
Hitchcock
Bloody eye sockets
No longer see a murder.
Of crows stealing souls.
Sleeping Beauty
Disfigured vampire
Smeared scars. Carnage over. Sleeps.
Your Twitch makes me jump
DAILY ROUTINE
I eat death at night
and smile at new souls in the
morning. Then repeat.
A VAMPIRE SCREAMS
moonlight. shadows writhe.
so much biting pain. sunlight.
bites the undead back.
The First Bite
Blood dripped from her fangs
The smell of his sweet, raw flesh
Hung in the cold air
The Transformation
The flesh rips away
Here it comes. I’m not ready.
The moonlight is here.
The Possession
Who is inside me?
I can feel it in my soul.
Claw my way back out.
Bones all over the ground
Ravens flying all around
Kids don’t go there now
Take knife to pumpkin.
Cut away the rotting flesh;
create a monster!
Look for winners to be announced tonight at 8:30 eastern her on Every Writer! Happy Halloween.