1st Place:

“Sheet Ghost” by Kyra Brantley-Hughes 

there’s a prayer in every basement

and a ghost in every attic 

there it stands watch

in the window

I tucked it there 

when I was nine

flesh, winding sheets–

death shrouds torn out

childhood crib

I near forgot

death’s heads riddled

those eyes, gashes

gazeless they gawk–

twin black pox marks

I must confess

I pierced its heart

with a poker

rent from the flame

that scarlet ink

sullied the linens

as the breast bled

in rorschach blots

I flayed that ghost

tore back the veil

and bore witness

to formless thought

they called

regret

and yet

and yet–

there’s a prayer in every basement

and a ghost in every attic 

See 2nd Place for the Halloween Poetry Contest Here