POETRY SPOTLIGHT: Rochelle Maloney

Who are you?
English Literature graduate from University of Essex. I particularly enjoy writing dark, unsettling poetry which exposes the flaws in human nature.

Stop Motion

6am. Sunrise. The darkness dissipates
And so too does my dreamless sleep
Woken by – Not a jolt, but stillness
Like water turned to ice

We’re frozen – in time, in space
The chuffing away chuffs on no more
A static tin can – with motionless wheels
Holds us like pilchards – not passengers

The window pane creates –
A separation between man and world
The morning drizzle – kept at bay
The chirping birds – in exile

I feel a yearning – to break free
From our own divide –
to touch the untouched – to take
the wall down, piece by piece and –

Motion resumes –
We are lost once more.

Apex Predator

We know when we are being watched
A talent befitting of prey – the human condition
And an unseen predator.
We are hunters. And we are hunted.
We destroy. And we are destroyed.
The Destroyer, akin to The Creator
We sew the seed – Then burn the field
A paradox – Of nature outgrown
A broken chain – Of corrupted ways
To shed the skin of fear – for what?
Danger sprouts from the remnants –
Of a danger laid to rest
To leave us with a gaping hole – we fill it –
With ourselves – We consume ourselves.

They Watch Us

A small brown owl, the feathered guest
As the autumn sun begins to wane
Perched just outside my window pane!
With its company I have been blessed

Bright green eyes and rugged head
My fellow man left to lament,
To me alone it has been sent
And not another soul instead!

The last few sun-rays disappear
To leave me with my new found friend
When the strangest feeling rears its head
Something feels a lot like – fear?

And then I notice – sight anew
Its feathers not the brown I saw!
Now darker than the darkest thought!
Its eyes imbued with wicked hues

Its presence seems a gift no longer
Creature come to pass me judgement!
For the sins that I have sinned with comfort
Feed this monster, make it stronger.

SUBMIT YOUR POETRY