This year, The Dark Poets Club had a new and interesting competition. The rules are simple… impress the judges with a dark poem, using fifty words or less.

This was a serious challenge for me as I’m usually quite loquacious in my pieces! I had to take a scalpel out and cut the words to its bare bones.

I trimmed and trimmed until I had a scribble called “Track 13”. It’s not for th faint-hearted, so please keep this in mind.

TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide

Track 13

My brain’s a broken record,

Skipping on the same cracked groove.

“Just jump”, it whispers, “what’s left to prove?”

The rope, a promise. The chair, a stage.

One last breath before turning life’s final page.

A silent film fading to black.

No rewind.

No coming back.

(c) Bob Christian2025

The sky cracks open

like an old photograph,

each flash a sharp reminder

of the silence we can’t outrun.

Fireworks are just bombs

with better PR,

but we still stand,

mouths agape,

staring at the chaos above,

wondering if we’ll ever

look at the sky

without waiting for it to fall.

(c)BobChristian