Book Spotlight: The Dark Between the Twilight

 Today I have a spotlight on the collection of memoir and speculative poems, The Dark Between the Twilight by Jamal Hodge. Enjoy.

The Dark Between the Twilight

The Dark Between the Twilight is a unique collection of memoir and speculative poems that takes the reader on an unforgettable exploration of the darkest and brightest fragments of a lonely but loving heart. It is an accounting of one man’s soul through the power of the imagination. Through the redemption of his pain, Jamal Hodge invites us to turn from the shadows of the past and seek the light in our own lives.

 

Darkness purifies, loneliness empties, and in the light, all are made whole again.

"Jamal Hodge invites us to dive deep into our emotions to experience what it truly means to live. His latest collection The Dark Between the Twilight is an introspective look into the dichotomy of existence and existing. His words are raw, powerful, and unforgettable. They stay with you on this darkly haunting journey into the human condition."—Christina Sng, Bram Stoker Award winning author of A Collection of Nightmares

“In The Dark Between the Twilight, Jamal Hodge opens his soul while pulling readers into the light, bleeding over his pages a blend of love, passion, and emotional truth.”—Michael Bailey, Bram Stoker Award winning editor and Shirley Jackson Award nominated writer

“Every now and then, the world is introduced to a work of art that transcends without end; that is not bound to time nor space but rather collective consciousness itself. With soul-wrenching poems such as ‘The Dream of Worms’ and ‘Tomorrow, I’ll Be Five’, or the vulnerability of ‘Goodbye’, and the affecting ‘Stay. Live.’, Jamal’s book, The Dark Between the Twilight, touches upon a reader’s enigmatic soul with an introspective emotion that will inspire generations of artists to come.”—Nzondi, Bram Stoker Award-winning Author

Book Link: https://geni.us/DarkTwilight

About the Author:

Jamal Hodge is a native New Yorker who grew up surrounded by the perils of poverty, the diversity of convergent cultures, and the harmonious circus of six siblings. He is a multi-award-winning film director, a two-time Rhysling Award nominee, and a 2nd place Dwarf Stars award-winning poet, whose one obsession is exploring the great “Why?” inside each of us. 

Jamal loves the broken things that want to be understood and the secret things that never bothered to hide. With his writing, he hopes to uncover the paradox between suffering and meaning, to use darkness to show light.

When he’s not writing or filming, Jamal is traveling to odd locales, volunteering at some community organization, or in the gym working out to a near death experience.  

He fancies himself a pretty cool guy.

October Frights Day 5: Dark Poetry Corner

Today it is time for my annual dark poetry corner, and I have three offerings for you today. I'm stepping away from witches today into the macabre magic of the undead and the Fae. Enjoy.

Bleed Me to Life

 

Immortality

written within the tomb

Saddened fatality

beneath the moon

Who am I,

to stalk the shadows?

Who am I,

but a corpse

 

Blood through the veins

Substance to hunger

You are Life

I am Death

You always crave

what you cannot have

 

A momentary glimpse;

the warmth of breath

against decaying skin

when I hold you, mesmerized

Your lifeblood stolen

to feed my eternity

 

It is not enough,

our flirting dance,

your poignant demise

Even though you've given

me this façade of life,

prolonged my existence

I long to join you

in life or death

Not this forever in-between

 

 

As the Shadows Dance

 

As the shadows dance

under the moon,

against shafts of light

reflecting fire,

the whispering wind

murmurs the names

of the wandering Fae

 

Among the trees, they move,

one with the night,

sapphire eyes searching

for the ghosts lingering

on the edge of forever

 

Left there long ago

by careless words

and broken hearts

Suspended souls, waiting

for broken Fae promises

to be kept

 

Now it is time

for the reaping

Now it is time

for the payment come due

 

The night wails

for the lost souls,

The night mourns

as the Fae collect

And the wind howls;

the last sound of

human trust

Breathless and Chilled

 

In the shadow of the frost,

a last whisper past the twilight,

there creeps a sigh

and a glimmer of the moon

 

Once he held a rose,

the warmth around his heart,

now he sees only ghosts

in the barren, solitary tomb

underneath the ice

 

Winter blows,

down the long road

Winter settles,

in the truth

And her voice echoes,

in his lies

Here's a free book for you

Visions and Nightmares

And don’t forget our group giveaway with 23 great books available.

Ends October 31st.

 Check the books out here.

The October Frights Giveaway

And I have another great giveaway!

C.L. Cannon’s Myths & Legends Reader Giveaway

And be sure to continue on with the rest of our hoppers to see what they’re up to. 

Night to Dawn Magazine & Books LLC

Hawk's Happenings

Heidi Angell

Curiosities

James McDonald

Always Another Chapter

Spreading the Writer's Word

Yours in Storytelling

Carmilla Voiez

Hello Romance

GirlZombieAuthors

Frighten Me

M'habla's!

Angela Yuriko Smith

Brain Matter

NLCARTERWRITES.COM

October Frights Day 3: Dark Poetry Corner

Today I bring you my Dark Poetry Corner, with three poems dripping blood...

Rhythm

Can you hear the drumbeats pound?

Thump, di di dum, thump, di, di dum

Calling, calling, against the midnight moon

Can you hear the drumbeats quiver?

Thump, di di dum, thump, di, di dum

Singing, singing, to raise the dead

Can you hear the drumbeats quicken?

Thump, di di dum, thump, di, di dum

Screaming, screaming with the darkened moon 

Now the drums fall silent

and the midnight air is still

The dead emerged from the dark

in blood have claimed their due

Ghost

A reflection 

dancing in a silver mirror

A whisper 

floating past the staircase

An echo 

of footsteps in the hallway

You ignore what you can

tremble at the rest

You never thought...

You are afraid

Alone

Surrounded by 

the consequence

of what lingers

Surrounded by

your death

Shadow of the Grave

I can feel Death creeping ever closer. It lingers in the shadows, its footsteps outside my door. Soon I will hear the knock of its bony fingers and I will let it in. Then we will sit, Death and I, and talk as friends before I save good-bye to this mortal world.

In the night, knocking

A shallow breath, a cold shade

Hello, my old friend

And today I come bearing gifts as well. Until October 15 you can download one of my Horror Haiku books from Prolific Works for free!

Horror Haiku and Other Poems

Download for Free

So that ends today's post. Be sure to hop on over and check out the offerings of the other participants as well. Here's the list.

October Frights Blog Hop

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The Word Whisperer

Hawk's Happenings

Carmilla Voiez Blog

M'habla's!

CURIOSITIES

Frighten Me

Winnie Jean Howard

Always Another Chapter

Balancing Act

James P. McDonald

greydogtales

Looking for some new books? Check out our October Frights Spooktacular

Halloween Week: Dark Poetry Corner

Another installment of my Dark Poetry Corner for Halloween Week with the Banshee and Death.

Enjoy.

Banshee

Past the misty shores

from the midnight darkness

the wail of death shall sound

On the chilling wind

across the threshold stone

her piercing scream shall echo

The father will rage

The mother will weep

And the brightest son shall fall

~*~

The Final Day

Death walks the world in blackened silence

to watch life fall, the last of it to shrivel, to end

snuffed by her passing breath and lingering icy touch.

The wings of closing shadows trail her hushed steps.

She gives no mercy, no heed to screams or cries.

The sentence has been decreed. Life here is over.

 ~*~

#OctoberFrights Day Five: Dark Poetry Corner

And now dear readers, we come to the day of poetic reckoning, the day when the raven flies on dark wings and brings verse most disturbing and wicked...

Welcome to my Dark Poetry Corner

The Red Queens

Rivers flow in crimson streams

with blood a thousand-fold

and tears of the blackened damned

Seared demon mists

roil from the wormy earth

blown on brimstone winds

Can you hear them call?

Can you hear them laugh?

The Red Queens walk tonight

Spirits claw from beneath their graves,

born again with baneful verve

from cracking bones and rancid flesh

And while they howl their spite

toward this forlorn night,

they scurry to heed the summons

Can you hear them call?

Can you hear them shriek?

The Red Queens walk tonight

The Red Queens stalk the night

~*~

Fifty Fathoms Deep

Stygian squelch and salty brine

where the carrion fall to slumber

Inky black and a wet drowned hell

with the monsters coloured umber

It’s where I live

Fifty fathoms deep

The raven grave and eternal abyss

for ships that sunk from battle

flesh picked clean and washed away

Nothing left but a dead bone rattle

It’s where I live

Fifty fathoms deep

It’s submerged tears of last regrets

in the face of your abandoned faith

Whispers and screams come empty

in the home of the devil’s wraith

It’s where I died,

and rose again

Fifty fathoms deep

~*~

Shadow’s Breath

One breath

quantum shadow of your life

One breath

held shallow inside the night

One breath

clutching back your last scream

One breath

scratching against your neck

One breath is all you have left

~*~

Hellfire Moon

Upon the dead man’s hour

cradled by the graveyard wind,

sulphurous and dank,

the Hellfire Moon unfurls

Crimson glare, cast down

over shrivelled trees

dripping charcoal ichor,

as blasphemous tongues

spew virgin blood and lies

Along the shadow’s path

creep the legged beasts

their barbs so sharp and ready

The Hellfire Moon commands

their minds, their thoughts

they will bring you to your doom

~*~

And we also have a giveaway!

The October Frights Giveaway

For more October Frights Blog Hop

Halloween Week: The Dark Poetry Corner

Welcome to Day Three of my Halloween Week!

Today I present my Dark Poetry Corner...

(Plus a great giveaway!)

Seraphim Woods

Beyond the dark, in the faraway worlds,

past the wispy zephyrs of a lost horizon

the whippoorwill calls, and the raven sings

of death and pain, and the shadows sharp

Keep to the path, don’t stray a step

Don’t walk alone in Seraphim Woods

Beyond the twilight, in the murky mists

moonlight nocturnal will waltz with the dead

while ancient rhymes disturb mortal sanity

and lullabies croon to forgotten beasts

Keep to the path, don’t stray a step

Don’t walk alone in Seraphim Woods.

Beyond the realms, where the ravening dwell,

where the footsteps crackle on the empty wind

and the trees shiver as strange creatures pass,

their muted voices whispering secret names

Keep to the path, don’t stray a step

Don’t walk alone in Seraphim Woods.

© A. F. Stewart 2017 All Rights Reserved

Ashen

Path of stones, pale bones

to carry them down

Hear the wild wind howl

The crow caws, give pause

Shadows shift around

Hear the wild wind howl

Wolf in white, need bite

savagery unbound

Hear the wild wind howl

A scream lost, in frost

countless echoes sound

Hear the wild wind howl

None to save, buried grave

The dead, in the ground

Hear the wild wind howl

  

From Colours of Poetry

© A. F. Stewart 

All Rights Reserved 

🎃

And now for the Instafreebie giveaway...

Over 30 Free Books and Stories in this horror giveaway!

Check it all out here!

Halloween Horror Giveaway!

And be sure to return tomorrow for a look at the book Under the Hunter's Moon by Timothy Bateson.

Halloween Week: Dark Poetry Corner

Welcome to Day Two of my Halloween Week. Today we explore the darker side of verse, where words drip in blood. To start us off, here’s a little nursery rhyme, tweaked ever so slightly…

Mary, Mary, quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

With red, red blood, soaked in mud

And grinning skulls all in a row.

And now for my featured poems.

SQUALLS OF INSANITY

Nightmares breathe inside out

my waking dreams of madness

in the dark hallows hurricane

Hallucinatory ambience

and fractured existence askew

Nightmares breathe inside out

Screams, screams, shattered fear

Voices, faces, that melding maelstrom

my waking dreams of madness

To close, too late

all shattered bone and blood

in the dark hallows hurricane

© A. F. Stewart 2016 All Rights Reserved

BITTEN BY DEATH

Immortality, that ephemeral beguile

Souls’ reaper, eternity’s keeper,

cast adrift your last breath’s smile

Immortality, that ephemeral beguile

An undulating shadow, a drifting exile

into death wandering ever deeper

Immortality, that ephemeral beguile

Souls’ reaper, eternity’s keeper

© A. F. Stewart 2016 All Rights Reserved

And if these dark poetic delights have tantalized your appetite, please check out my new book of horror poetry, Horror Haiku and Other Poems.

Horror Haiku and Other Poems

Words linger...

In the darkness of shadows, in the distant screams.

They whisper past the drip, drip of blood.

The strange beauty of words hide, waiting for you.

Embrace the horror.

Venture past safe reality, into the world of terror told in verse. Horror Haiku and Other Poems brings forth surreal dread and spins it in artistic countenance. From small chilling bites of poetry, to murky morsels of fright, come find where the words haunt you, where they live and die.





You also have a chance to win Horror Haiku and Other Poems prizes in my Halloween Horror Haiku Giveaway (live until October 31st). Just click on the Giveaway Tab at the top of the blog or this link: Halloween Horror Haiku Giveaway!