JESSICA MONSTER is coming!
Today is the day that Jessica comes back to town.
Today is the day that Billy Wisdom hides in Clapham’s Bar,
thinking of the time that he teased Jessica about her weight.
He can feel the boards of the floor tremble as she approaches.
The foam on his beer trembles.
Billy Wisdom trembles.
Today is the day that Jessica comes back to town.
Today is the day that Monica Treelight sits in her front room,
wishing she’d moved house since Jessica left.
Now Jessica knows just where to find her.
Nothing will stop Jessica.
Nothing at all.
Today is the day that Jessica comes back to town.
Today is the day that Mrs Winches gets in her car,
and heads south at one hundred and ten per.
She’s hunched over the wheel and with one eye
on the horizon behind her, just in case.
Today is the day that Jessica comes back to town.
Today is the day that Ralph Bleaches sets fire
to every photo he’s ever taken.
And then he waits.
Waiting for Jessica to come home.
Today is the day that Jessica comes back to town.
Today is the day that Miriam Finagle pulls rank
in the radio station and takes to the air, screaming,
‟JESSICA MONSTER IS COMING!
RUN! RUN FOR THE HILLS! SAVE YOURSELVES!
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
JESSICA MONSTER IS COMING,
AND SHE’S COMING FOR YOU!”
Today is the day that Jessica comes back to town.
Where will you be?
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Cyn
This is great! I can’t tell if it’s to be chanted or sung, but I just love it.
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Andrew Cheverton
Thanks, Cyn. This was written while I had the ‘flu, and I’m not sure it works, but I now see some potential in the metaphor of it for a one-off comic.
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Rivka Jacobs
This is a narrative poem! An urban-fantasy that is almost a folk ballad. Very American, though, more than British. (It’s like Rod Serling or Stephen King meets “Delia’s Gone” and “Tom Dooley”.)This is awesome.
You build up a sense of anxiety, of apprehension, but then you make the reader do a double-take at the end. What exactly is “Jessica Monster” after all? Who is the real victim here, Jessica or these people?
By the time we read that radio message, all in caps, “Run for the Hills” we are left thinking, who is the real “monster” in this narrative? On the other hand, I’m also thinking, if I lived in that town, would I wait around for Jessica to arrive? Just in case….
A completely successful take on the “monsters on Maple Street” theme, brilliantly double-edged and thought-provoking. And set like a ballad, too. Completely original.
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Andrew Cheverton
King and Serling? Rivka, you just gave me the biggest smile! Thank you.
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Nicolas Papaconstantinou
Love this, Mr Cheverton. But then, you probably know my tastes well enough to know I would…!
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