Brian Wilson

Sometimes In Horror Films

Sometimes in horror films
there are time-lapse sequences 
of rotting flesh.
Animal corpses fast-forwarding 
through decomposition.
Accelerated mouldering. 

Rarely do these sequences 
bear any relevance to the plot.
They light up tube televisions,
busted and warbling,
or punctuate nightmarish
visions. 

Sometimes horror films 
try and evoke emotions 
which words are powerless
to convey
through the use of
gruesome imagery. 

Rarely do these attempts come across
as anything other than cheap
horror for the sake of horror,
failing to burrow beneath 
the surface
revealing what is really there. 

When I saw your body laid out 
on that cold metal slab,
I thought about all of the
horror we watched together, 
and how you were never the one
to cover your face with your hands.

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Brian Wilson is a writer from Northern Ireland. He recently won the STORGY Shallow Creek short story competition. In 2018 his work was featured as part of the Smoke & Mirrors exhibit at the Torrance Art Museum in California. He likes to tweet from @bwilson4815.