Repercussions

Repatriate your soul,
Erasing flesh wounds.
Perpetual madness
Envelopes my heart,
Reminiscing on time’s
Curse. Your freedom
Underestimates
Salvation’s dance with
Sin. Healing manifests
Illusions.
Oblivious to my pain, death
Negotiates the price of your
Soul.

Reunited

I tripped over your corpse
chasing shadows. Unaware,
your soul levitated,
blade in hand, attempting
to sever our ties forever.
But with one slice
you did the opposite –
reuniting us in death.

Pillage

My carcass bleeds.
Iniquitous ink
spreads across the sky.
You steal from time
disguising my pain
rewriting hidden messages.
My eyes harbor angst
while you pillage.

Lilac and Ginger

Lilac and ginger,
ice and fire
trapped between the two,
I dare to escape
this oblivion.
My heart split
in opposite directions,
my pain traverses
along love’s floor
begging your bitter vines
to untangle me.
But I remain engulfed
by your fire, frozen
in your ice. Your fragrance
still lingers –
lilac and ginger.

Excerpted from Conjure Volume 1: Dark Poetry by Rena Aliston. Copyright © 2024 Rena Aliston.
Excerpted by permission of Owl-Raven Books. All rights reserved.
No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Brimstone

You’re born of fairy dust
sprinkled with honey.
Succulent, like a rose,
your fragrance hovers
over my grave begging
love to awaken a heart
dying of thirst underneath
barren skies. My desert
desecrates your feathers.
My burning flame
scorches your petals,
for I am born of brimstone.

Entice

I slumber deep within life’s storm
love’s agony becomes the norm
time’s tentacles ravish within
these bitter tales of pain transform

No longer running from the sin
that bellows underneath my skin
my pillar seeks a sacrifice
to bait the flood I hold within

Delicious is my plight’s device
to flay the heart and melt love’s ice
as time releases its last breath
you’ll taste the bane that you entice

Antipathy

He betrayed me again
desecrating my flesh,
tormenting my soul.
I lay bare, empty.
My pain separates.
My mind relinquishes
bitter tales, escaping
as blood spills over
my canvas. I no longer
feel, love, live. A relic
of my true self, I splinter
as my fragmented pieces
crumble under the weight
of his antipathy.

Divine Ritual

Underneath the moon’s
watchful eye, I bleed
iniquitous tales
reciting death’s spells.
Thunder crashes against
my spleen as I break,
shapeshifting into time’s
raven, stalking your
shadow as the sky spills
riddles upon your grave.
I desecrate love’s soil,
pulling your carcass along
my procession of bitterness.
My splintered feet claw
through sand and stone,
building a new altar
as the crow chants
and the owl studies
my divine ritual.

Sour

Sour, my tongue produces
silence as my knees scrape
against time’s sandpaper
dragging bitter bones
and shallow hymns
under a broken halo
and blackened rainbow.
I taste salty tears
as my river overflows
crashing against your temple.

Fettered

I’m still dancing
with the ghost
of last summer.
Hands tightly
wrapped around
my spine, pulling
me toward iniquity.
Our barbed wire
tongues confined,
knotted like a closed
fist beating against
love’s deception.
I ache for one more
dance, but my heart
drifts toward another
flame, the one
I’m forever bound to.

Excerpted from Divine Madness: A Dark Poetry Collection by Rena Aliston. Copyright © 2025 Rena Aliston.
Excerpted by permission of Owl-Raven Books. All rights reserved.
No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Blessed Illusions

Our love is alluring to those with blind eyes
cloaked in our facade, absorbed in our lies.
Only those beguiled come to these conclusions,
all we’ve compiled are blessed illusions.

No one can hear the silence you render
nor see the fear of this great pretender.
The life we portray to avoid their confusion,
we stand on display and welcome intrusion.

The scratch on your face, perfection jarred.
My eyes can’t erase what’s fatally scarred.
We want to be free, remain in exclusion,
but no one can see our love’s a collusion.

All share the bliss of our twisted deception.
Our love can’t exist without their conception.
The roles we play to maintain this delusion,
we dare not betray our blessed illusion.

Louder Than A Scream

Lasting is the hidden pain and
Ominous is the prevailing silence that lies
Underneath my smile.
Disguising my sorrow has become
Everything I am.
Releasing the pain will destroy the strength I’ve come to rely on.

Then it becomes too much.
Holding back no longer suffices my soul, so I
Allow the rushing tide its freedom, yet
No one’s listening.

Am I the only one who hears?

Silent tears fall
Carrying my mind’s burden.
Reflections in the mirror
Erase the soundless smile I hide behind.
As my pain breaks through
My silent tears become louder than screams.

Calluses of the Heart

Flesh remains stagnant displaying your art
bleeding through time, calluses of the heart.
Deepen the scars, complacent is silence
beating the chamber held in defiance.

Shades of black and blue shadowing your crime
calluses of the heart bleeding through time.
My skin holds your desert, waters depart
veiling the wayworn awaiting love’s start.

Enduring the battle, secrets impart
bleeding through time calluses of the heart.
Destiny’s soul chokes the breath I ingest
freedom unspoken, my will you contest.

Stricken and defeated, hear death’s bell chime
calluses of the heart bleeding through time.
Remaining in this grave of flesh you chart
I disguise a love that’s falling apart.

I Remain

Broken, crawling – you want me
begging for freedom while falling
in your shadow’s desire.
Flesh mates with rejection,
willingly embracing deception’s dance.
In your arms, I taste
the tides of shallowness
still I remain
drowning in my tears.

Beautifully Dark

My pillar wears a carefree mask
in darkness bask
the crimson face,
your heart’s disgrace.

Prophetic visions shun my tears,
replacing fears
my kiss of salt
to show your fault.

My stain’s a proud porcelain doll,
watching you fall
beauty within,
the finest sin.

Forbidden Waters

I climb your never-ending vine,
escaping your solitary tower of ungracious lies.
Blackened eyes clad with sinister smiles
watch as I descend into your pool,
drowning in love’s forbidden waters.

Blackened Sun

A world without a sun is fear.
We walk toward light but never reach
the sands of life upon its beach.

We’re careless with the truths we hear.
Upon these honest steps we lie
to justify what we deny.

Man’s helping hand can disappear.
Your trust in life’s a parasite
where leeching souls will find delight.

The darkest lies can persevere.
The stars can guide you toward a cause
while moonless nights reveal your flaws.

The blackened sun’s a pioneer.
Through life we learn our lessons well,
survival comes when we rebel.

Life’s Disguise

Within the night my soul will rise
while shadows rest beneath the ice.
My freedom is death’s compromise,
behold my vision – life’s disguise.

The moon does worship man’s demise,
damnation joins without a price.
Within the night my soul will rise
while shadows rest beneath the ice.

Linger within life’s masking eyes
the sun shines brightly to entice.
Your trust in time, man’s greatest vice,
angels and demons both despise
within the night my soul will rise.

Excerpted from Woven Tales: Selected Poems by Rena Aliston. Copyright © 2024 Rena Aliston.
Excerpted by permission of Owl-Raven Books. All rights reserved.
No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Defenseless

Within fire’s eyes I foretell time’s riddles,
curses laid upon my throne while love’s
pillar aches for revenge. I await the moon’s
anguish, festering below my wings as I remain
lost in death’s labyrinth where your passion
echoes through my defenseless walls.

Feast

Gnawing on bone, the bitter taste
my death misplaced,
this soulless ache
to grace my wake.

You bid farewell with eyes that seek.
You bled all week.
My lover’s call
my pillar’s thrall.

I grant your wish, vision behold.
My flesh still cold
tonight we feast
to calm the beast.

Poisoned Poetry

Pain spills like ink
Over a white page.
Illusions awaken
Surrendering to
Open wounds.
Nefarious visions
Entrance. The moon
Dances with the sun.

Pen and paper
Orate while shadows
Escape
Time’s tomb
Releasing
Yesterday’s rage.

Pain

Pain has a vision,
peers through open wounds.
It shadows reality
desecrating pride
until scorched flesh bleeds
iniquitous hymns, recitations
of regurgitated bitterness.
Time’s carcass harbors animosity.

Expired

Your love is enticing snow.
Frozen pillar melting under
lustful bliss, spilling
over my carcass,
invigorating my expired
heart to beat once again.

Your Love

Lust evaporates when molten
lips penetrate feverish skin.
Forbidden whispers chant
temptation’s secrets.
Satin sheets suffocate
passion’s reign. Your love
sets the sun ablaze.

Twisted

The space between my ears
and heart deciphers riddles
overflowing, pouring out
of my mouth. My twisted
tongue spits venom
while my soul screams
hymns of forgiveness.

A Crime

This felony – our love, a crime
of lust. Suffocating hearts
swallow contemptuous words
while clinging onto hopeful
dreams of unbridled passion.
This deceitful fever whispers
spells of forgiveness.
Bitterness lingers underneath.

Excerpted from Shadows and Mirrors: A Dark Poetry Collection by Rena Aliston. Copyright © 2023 Rena Aliston.
Excerpted by permission of Owl-Raven Books. All rights reserved.
No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.