38 responses to “October Encounter”

1. Oh, so atmospheric, Björn! I love how it ends on such a scary note–the narrator can never forget. 👻

   • Thank you… I had so much fun writing it.

     • You’re welcome. I’m so pleased you enjoyed the prompt!

2. A hair-raising recounting that made the whole encounter come alive, Björn. I especially loved the ending which leaves a deep and lingering sense of unease.

   • I think a meeitng like this would stay with you 🙂

3. This is deliciously dark and spooky, Bjorn! I especially love this part; “His horse is fearsome. nostrils ember, mane
   aflame, a steed to carry steel to battle he the headless horseman sword his bane a passing into night with chainmail rattles.” 💙💙

   • Thank you – I love writing dark

     • You’re welcome 😊

4. This poem has a dark Gothic scenery. The atmosphere is so eerie and brilliantly well captured my friend.

   • Thank you Charlie – dark and gothic is great for the season

     • You welcome, Bjorn.

       And you captured both right at a good time my friend. 🙂

5. A wonderfully Gothic encounter, Björn! It reminded me of Goethe’s Erlkönig. I especially love the phrase ‘shadowplay of grasping claws’ and the description of the horse.

   • Thank you for the praise… I think the Gothic theme is so fun to work with

     • Me too!

6. oh this is infeed ominous, luv it

   we both share motifsbof moon and midnight

   much♡love

   • Moon and midnight is fitting for this.

7. I like how the ending speaks to how a moment of such horror can live on forever in the mind.

   • Maybe we would call it PTSD today

     • I can’t imagine why it would be better to ignore the good and label the persistent, but hey if you want to recognize my trauma, go with it.

8. Ooh, spooky fun and the tension is built with each line. I could feel the clop-clop racing faster faster and the sweating.

   • I remember being scared of darkness as a kid

9. Such a spooky and dark scene from start to finish. The opening stanza really sets the stage, so well written.

   • Thank you… then I met my goal with the writing

10. Awesome!!!

    I love the following lines :
    “the solemn soldiers and the killer knights
    my farm is further on, I’m far from friends”

    This captures what’s going on with the headless Horseman mythology and it’s great Gothic writing. I love this story. It’s one of my favorites during Halloween time. Thank you so much for posting an awesome poem!!!

    • I had to imagine the grave being the home of the horseman

      • That works. It doesn’t have to fit into anyone’s legends and lore. I love what you did.

11. Super evocative, Björn. Your words jumped off the screen. This is one scary piece. Love it!

    • Thank you… hope it does not leave you sleepless.

      • Fortunately, no. I slept like the dead …. er, I mean like a rock!

12. Very scary Björn! – and great last stanza 🙌

    • Pleased to scare you

      • 😄

13. A great telling of this well known legend, made more scary by the final stanza.

    • Thank you so much… it was so much fun to read it.

14. Bjorn, I don’t know if you have ever walked onstage … but I would dearly love to watch you perform that amazing poem. I felt as though I had a front row seat to the entire journey of the horseman!!!!

    • Never on stage as a performer…. I have been mc a few times on events as well as given speaches on technical matters….

15. Our fear plays the beheading game with us on dark and lonely lanes – with cruel steel and jack-o-lantern grin –

    • Indeed… it is a scary thought (in all its variations)

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