Jack

By Emma Wells

My reflection slumbers
lost to dreaming mumbles.
I stare pointedly at intent;
my next steps are hellishly bent…

Ebony locks enfold her innocent face,  
crimson lips of gothic lace;
I am conscious, reaching for the blade,  
razored to frenzy for nighttime fade.

She dreams in black organza  
    —    a world of self- perpetuating stanza…
My days are limited. Watched. 
Blood baths perused. Botched.  

Her days are spent frivolously courting:
her fiancé devilishly sporting.
I escape to alleyway torment 
where unhallowed deeds ferment…

She rinses the early morning blade,
ignores its shimmer in the shade. 
I bathe in its gory splendour
highly proud of skilled dismember. 

Jacqueline refutes medical academia: 
lets it bleed out like iron-ore anemia. 
I prefer to lash, thrash, lacerate -
my senses spin, non-incarcerate…

My stainless double prepares to wed,
no blood bath for her wedding bed; 
whereas I play with diligently-cut organs. 
I’m thriving - one of the mighty gorgons!

She reads of White Chapel murders
recoils within Victorian girders. 
I frolic in prostitutes’ blood
rejoicing in each fatal thud. 

Her nuptials are printed -
the prospect of a male heir hinted. 
My murders are front page scandal:
far too bloodthirsty for her to handle!

Any yet, Jacqueline slumbers in my chest, 
unaware of my duplicitous jest;
her and I, are one, the same,
even sharing a double-dealing name. 

I’m a notorious serial killer
wielding fateful blades of silver. 
Don’t stop me in my stride,
I’m notorious like Jekyll and Hyde. 

About The Author

Emma Wells is an English teacher and a mother to a six year old daughter. She writes poetry and short stories as she enjoys the creative freedom that it allows. She has been writing creatively for nearly two years.

She has poetry printed in The World’s Greatest Anthology, The League of Poets, The Lake, The Beckindale Poetry Journal and a selection of poems published in Dreich Magazine. She has published short stories in Aurora & Blooms Creative Arts Journal and Visual Verse. She is currently writing her first novel.