You Saw A Woman With Your Face

A short doppelganger horror poem

Photo by Danie Franco on Unsplash

Here’s another uncanny poem to get you in the Halloween mood. If you enjoy horror and the craft of creating fiction, pull up a coffin and settle in. Subscribe for weekly inclusive, spooky, fun horror stories, writing tips, exercises, and more.

I’ve had a decent influx of readers this week, so a big welcome to my new subscribers, it’s great to have you here <3

Without further ado, here’s this week’s new short horror. A little poem called…

You Saw A Woman With Your Face

From the window of the bus, 
You saw a woman with your face,
Your eyes, your body, your everything,
Standing beside the road and beaming.

Her smile was true, and open, and warm,
And filled you with regret,
Because she felt something you do not.

You rang the bell,
Pushed the door open,
And sprinted to her,
But she was gone.

So you stood where she stood,
Looking where she looked,
Trying to feel like the woman with your face.

---

---

This week, I’ve been thinking about The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s wonderful and terrifying feminist short horror story from 1892. I think it might have been in my mind as I wrote the poem above - it’s only after finishing the poem that I realised the parallel theme.

If you’ve not read Gilman’s brilliant story, I highly recommend it. It is one of the creepiest tales around, and still sends shivers down my spine.

Enjoy short spooky reads? Check out some of my micro-fiction and short horror — most of the stories are told in only a few hundred words:

https://matahaggisburridge.substack.com/t/short-horror

That’s it for this week - I hope you’re all having a wonderful October, and, for northern hemisphere folks like me, you’re enjoying the turning colours of the trees, and the crisp bite in the air.

Out of interest:

Until next time, be kind to your awesome selves, and go be spooky,

Mata xxx

P.S. if you enjoyed this, also check out last week’s poem:

---