IN A BASEMENT

A horror poem by John Grey

Writing by John Grey
Art by Kiki Ren

ON A BED IN A TENEMENT BASEMENT

A new life scraps for space,

hounds her innards,

siphons off her blood,

Her stomach expands

but can barely keep up.

The father looms over her,

his fiery shadow

searing her skin

as the baby kicks and rips.

He doesn’t have to say a thing.

His red eyes

crush the borders of her being.

She no longer matters.

Only the child does.

The boy must be born.

It’s now or never.

Her womb takes the brunt

of the end days to come.


About the Author

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Stand, Washington Square Review and Floyd County Moonshine. Latest books, “Covert” “Memory Outside The Head” and “Guest Of Myself” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the McNeese Review, Santa Fe Literary Review and Open Ceilings


About the Artist

Kiki is best described as 45% Elvira, 45% Dolly Parton, and 10% Danny Devito. Though she’s always been a lover of all forms of art, technology has always been her forte. She studied computer science for four years before dropping out and coasting through life in various retail management positions. That’s until she found her true calling: being an embarrassment to her family online. When she’s not whipping up websites or blessing the world with memes and generative art she’s hunting for oddities at thrift stores or reading the most disturbing pieces of experimental fiction she can find.



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