By Cat London Hair graceful God, shimmering! This mane worth more Than pelts I’ve seen her in Skin of angels, Smooth, cinnamon Scent begging the hunt I want her in Bed will clear my head tonight Helping prepare for her flight Oh, she’ll resist, This beauty-beast, But untamed creatures Taste like sweets.   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Zenobia To open your phone and find  photos of them cheating, was to notice your own burning smooth tongue  from open mouth kissing sweet deceit, coated in the crystal ether of a lemon sun— Betrayal wore down your teeth, now truth screams into them  cold, shrill as the dental bur twists.   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Athena Marie Every second is agony, A gnawing, relentless force in my mind. My head, a silent prison, To wake is to suffer. Harrowing thoughts, each breath brings torment. I am nothing - Happiness evades me. He deserves better, But I am broken. If this is life, Then hell will be a blessing.   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By John Metcalfe Savage burns From your tongue of fire. Chest torn, my flesh beneath your nails. This is how I thrive, stripped and bound to a bed of thorns, long hair screwed into a snarl, laughter dripping with my blood. Christ! How I love you! This torture, this rapture, this beautiful pain.   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Kathleen Gray broken sleep, jumbled fragments of bad dreams   full moon harassed by ghostly clouds haunts the night   too late for regrets – she creeps back to bed they’ll come for him at six       #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By NK.A.Hwaet Lightning cracks the roof—   Shoves the knife in walls. They bleed fuses. Your face? A fan   snapped shut—I see that fear. Snow and coal charred the sheets.   My scars? Testify. Open: I’ll stuff your throat with black—   forge you lion-strong— then snatch the night right back.     #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Lynsey Balloch You like my hair. I hope you drown in it. Hold it. Smell it. Caress it. Eat it. Tendrils smouldering down your throat. Strangle and squeeze your insides until they combust – In flames. Blood, fire and guts. Wipes out the waste – Never fear darling. Fire grows from rusty, rooted nests.   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Samira Kamaly-Fard Hung myself with poisonous web,  Extracted my beating heart, Soul clung on. Chest deflated, time wasted. Whimsical demons smile, hand between my breasts. Fiddled with an empty cavity. You took everything, there's nothing left.  “But you removed your heart” “You put yourself in hell, there you shall reside” Forever tormented.    #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Charlotte Murray my thumb an anchor for a tiny hand   pale and curled as pupae   I can’t imagine any other use for a thumb now   the Burj Khalifa of his miniature world   but he has already grown wings and flown away     #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Bob W Christian My brain's a broken record, Skipping on the same cracked groove. Just jump, it whispers, what's left to prove? The rope, a promise. The chair, a stage. One last breath, before turning life's final page. A silent film, fading to black. No rewind. No coming back.   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Victoria Simons I was a life drawing model and each artist painted me blue. My veins were dotted lines: Cut Here. They held cups to my cheek to catch raindrops. It was too much nudity, even for them, and I snatched at myself with translucent hands.     #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Jack Bumby I talk, examining the rubble every time, a little easier you listen hand in mine at first you tried to solve but it’s not a problem to fix the brain is the adversary an enemy trained for battle honed to a keen edge deprogramming takes time   but what dreadful work   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Ash Luetchford You came out naked, red and howling Eyes scrying slivers into mine, Pushing your tiny soles Against my belly as if translating Reaching from the other side, Awe-gasping and looking to me   As if i should know what to do With all this air to breathe-   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Steve Dixon I butter my toast— fully to all corners.   As I have done for the past 25 years…   … s ince I escaped               Scattered Crumbs                         A broken plate                                     A mess of MY  own making?   That first stinging slap to the head   Bewildered;   Why?   Because I hadn’t buttered his toast—                                                 fully to all corners     #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Camilla Fellas Arnold I don’t know which is worse; the pain, or a doctor saying endo pain  can’t rate as 9/ 10   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Mez Waheed for Héloïse and Aldéric     born the size of a blueberry      bruised flesh             flared crown               too soon to pluck the name    or debate                                 pronouns   reason reassures  it happens often      bearing fruit        only blighted                the season   bereft      whispers       life's justice             miscarried   rhyme guide me         where to go                             to resow this seed's heart         

By Sophea Amari Bean They said the stars forgot my name. Fine. I carved it into rivers When the wind turned against me, I stitched my silence to thunder and walked on. Not towards glory, but towards the place where even shadows remember – whom I tried to be.   #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By JF Shaw In hours dark, when sleep would flee, I chose the end awaiting me. If only I'd known, before the stamp, How cramped the urn, how cold and damp. #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Lesley Buchan Donald You stole from me   Little things at first Barely noticed Hardly missed   Chanel Mademoiselle Freshly sliced lemons Longiflorum lilies   Deep refreshing sleep Laughter Joy   Now you have taken my breath My voice My song   I am an artist without Cadmium yellow Vermilion, Cerulean blue   Cruel thief   You have stolen me #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge

By Aaron Tweed How the sunlight offends his skin, the morning offers horrors anew.   When people smile he sees tombstones instead of teeth.   Water equals drowning.   Fire equals immolation.   Breathing equals asphyxiation.   Living equals death.     #darkpoetsclub #smallspacedeepimpact #50wordchallenge