Animal/Fear Poem by sal carter

The musty smell
hangs
weightless in the air.

Suspended like an
invisible
cloth curtain.

Marking the
boundary
of the cave.

Striking the senses
like a
sledgehammer.

It mists up the
eyes
like fog.

And sets the skin
Crawling
From the body.

Beyond the smell
is
the dark.

Endlessly covering
the limits
of reality and possibility.

The fear of the
unknown
against the safety of the mundanity.


Walking forwards, the
darkness
retreats into the earth.

Folding in on itself
until
rushing forward to encompass.

It breathes into
into
its invisible depths.


Deeper, deeper. the
shadows
are calling out.

Sounds are amplified
to a
fearful crescendo.

Anticipation hangs
ripe
for harvest.

Something waits,
feeding
on the taste of fear.

Something not right
Something different
Something greater
Something that is not meant to be
Something wrong
Something not human

Not human.

Instinct takes over

Undiluted fear floods through the veins
Pumping through the body,
Ripping apart all reason,

Animal fear takes hold
The last vestiges of civilization fall.
And all other emotions are thrown away into the maelstrom of dread awe.

Giving way to the terror of the hunted.

Blindness
Darkness
Fear
Pure Fear