SHOCKing Sonnets: Ezra Cobb’s DERANGED Monologues

SHOCK’s resident poet Nigel Parkin pens SHOCKing sonnets and horrifying haikus.

In which homicidal necrophiliac Ezra Cobb from 1974’s DERANGED muses aloud….

Miss Johnson

When I scooped out her eye, that stuff that leaked out

Made me think of the soup that you coughed up

With all that blood the night you went to sleep.

She’s got the same kind face as you, Mama –

I think you’ll be good friends. You’ll be able

To sit and talk and watch me decorate.

She had a good big brain inside her, full

Of godly thoughts, I’m sure, and touching it

Made me feel like a kid again, helping

You make meatloaf, squishing all that cold mince

And feeling your big warm hands guiding mine.

I thought of all the things you have fed me,

All the times I’ve been thankful and I said

Grace as I spooned the brain into a mug.

Maureen Selby

You said she was fat, Mama, and so she was!

Good and fat and cute! I wanted to press

My head against that soft belly and feel

All that warmth and love, lie in it, even

Though I was scared I’d get trapped inside her.

And when she showed me that picture – Herbert –

Well, it could almost have been her, that same

Fat smiling face. He’s somewhere in the dark

Now, Mama, like you. And he speaks to her.

Can you hear him, Mama? Could you hear him

When he was telling me to do all those

Things to her, those dirty things? Did you try

To stop him? Don’t worry, Mama. I was

A good boy. They are both in the dark now.

Mary

She resisted me. I guess I shouldn’t

Be surprised. That old guy in the bar said

She had tits with a capital T. She

Probably thought I was some kind of creep

When I pushed my fingers under her bra

But I was thinking of you, Mama, you.

I just wanted her to be you, Mama –

I needed the warmth of your flesh, your smell,

Hell, I’d made everything pretty and swell

And I’d shown her what you can make with bone

And skin and a little care. Couldn’t she

Just have held me? Now her head’s all a mess.

I beat her like that drum I made, Mama!

Such talent! Artist! Musician! Your son!

Sally

The thing about this one, she was so young

And so pretty she just had to die. I

Knew that outright. I had her in my sight.

And they even gave her to me, Mama,

Set a trap for her and everything, just

So I could watch her struggling and crying.

I played with her for a bit, just to tease,

Get her all worked up, didn’t think you’d mind,

Good to see the sluts suffer, ain’t it? Knew

You’d like that. And that carcass! Hung up there

In the barn like such good meat – beautiful!

And I’m sorry I got those strange feelings

When I cut into that fine flesh. You’re still

The only one for me. I’m always here.