Hymn of Mephistopheles

The devil ain’t. The devil
likes horses and also eats
all your supper because

you won’t. Your mother told you
how naughty it was to burn
the devil in your bed when

what you ought to be doing
was stroking his serpentine
moustache. Smoking, he will

ride into your bedroom every night
on his great bellied horse. He
will wake you from that one

dream you always wish was real
ly your life. And when you call
for your mother, all she will say

to you is: the devil ain’t
nothin but the only thing
we got. So lie still and let him

& his great-bellied horse ride
all over the lopped-off corn
rows you’ve been cultivating

in the valley of your stygian night
clothes. The devil ain’t
done with you yet. my dear

Author's Note

2019

Reviews

[SkinlessFrank]

This has the sense of the child being caught in the act of cavorting with the mother’s imagined devil, the mother’s twisted sense of sexuality and her disdain in finding the child being “tempted”. I get that from the girl "burning the devil in her bed". Like some Faustian bargain gone astray, the mother can only teach the girl that all she will reap in return is the loss of a life she can only dream of. And there is yet more wickedness in the mother that repels us further, the way in the closing stanza she undermines the girl’s own sexuality, making her feel vulgar and worthy only of the devil.

A parent has that power and more. Try as I might after so many years, I still hear my own mother’s condemnations ringing in my head. And one must wonder, if we can hear that voice in our conscious state, what power does it have in our subconsciousness?

[Eilis]

This is a poem that has always held some emotional ambiguity for me. I was taught shame and to be ashamed as a child and adolescent, absolutely. But also I was unprotected and harmed by people I was meant to, told I could, trust. When you are betrayed by caregivers it makes it difficult to discern so many things. Especially when those caregivers treat you as a pincushion and sacrificial lamb of sorts. The main thing I felt when writing this was the dread of being a child and being unprotected but also shamed for what happens when you are unprotected or given up to satisfy the whims of adults. The horror of being a child in that uncertain space. Your interpretation certainly has space among those feelings. In that kind of environment no matter what the child did it was wrong. It takes a long time to forgive oneself and even longer to realize it is not the self that needs to be forgiven. And to be able to escape the ways those things shape us seems nearly impossible. It is a difficult landscape to navigate for certain. Thanks for reading and sharing what you see.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

very haunting. it reminded me of the film The Sandman, which gave me endless nightmares. this film and this poem brings back memories of being a child, afraid of the dark come bedtime. but in this narrative, the mother - supposedly a protector - tells the child they deserve the punishment; some kind of warped morality. it's chilling on many levels.
the text was very smartly written. especially the cut off: dream you always wish was real/ly your life.
as a fan of horror, there was a lot i liked about this. it has atmosphere, layered themes, and style.

[Eilis]

Thank you, Ern. I like that you feel that threat and atmosphere in the child-mind way. That was definitely my intent. Much of my poetry explores these lingering memories of my childhood and horror is definitely one way it feels looking back. Thanks for reading and for your insightful comments.

[Joli Dy]

Beautifully crafted. Chilling and original. I am bedevilled!

[Eilis]

Thanks for visiting, Joli!