Melissa Barker-Simpson

I was challenged by a writer friend of mine, Mark Morris, to write an ode to husband killing. So after spending much time online, being haunted by the greats and all things stressed and un-stressed, I decided to got with the traditional rhyming form of A B A B C D E C D E (for each 10-line stanza), with an unstructured, free form approach for a little light relief. I apologise to the poets among you!

The Black Widow’s Tale

The first one was good with his hands

and built me a house with a view

a great little spot on the sands

a paradise made for two

The guy was polite to a fault

and left me the deeds in his will

So I gave him a kiss with my axe

And proceeded straight to the vault

Before savouring my very first kill

The second was an architect too

and doubled the size of my land

He hired a talented crew

to keep up with my every demand

In the end he became rather dull

a bore who was sugar and spice

So I ended his life with a hammer

by braining him up side the skull

and paying the ultimate price

with a nice healthy stint in the slammer

Husbands three and four are a blur

and pale in significance to five

A man who caused quite a stir

one I’d intended to keep alive

But he had something else planned

much worse than my two by four

He wanted to end my dream

and after gaining the upper hand

he filled my nights with gore

and took pleasure in hearing me scream