Happy to having Blue Flute, who I had the pleasure to meet in New York a few weeks ago tending the Poetics bar with a fantastic, inspiring prompt….and I’m stepping out of the way and hand the mic to him…
Remember growing up watching Dracula? Or perhaps you saw Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in the movie adaptation of Interview with the Vampire. However we were first introduced to the concept of vampires, they have a way of capturing our imagination when we are young and provide a fertile source of symbolism and meaning as we grow older.
Vampires are beings that feed on the life of other beings, generally in the form of drinking their blood. This concept has been in many cultures since before written records began, but became popular in the current form around the 1700s, based on vampire legends from Eastern Europe. The greatest literary result of these legends was Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has spawned innumerable literary and cinematic offshoots.

Le Vampire by Philip Burne-Jones (1861-1926), created around 1897. This is public domain due to an expired copyright. Source: Wikimedia Commons
So the theme for today is VAMPIRES – literal or figurative. The first item for your inspiration is the painting above, Le Vampire, by Philip Burne-Jones. It is his most famous painting, inspiring a Rudyard Kipling poem, “The Vampire,” which in turn inspired an early silent movie, A Fool There Was (1915). This is Rudyard Kipling’s poem:
A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you or I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair,
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair–
(Even as you or I!)
Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste,
And the work of our head and hand
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand!
A fool there was and his goods he spent,
(Even as you or I!)
Honour and faith and a sure intent
(And it wasn’t the least what the lady meant),
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you or I!)
Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who didn’t know why
(And now we know that she never knew why)
And did not understand!
The fool was stripped to his foolish hide,
(Even as you or I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside–
(But it isn’t on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died–
(Even as you or I!)
“And it isn’t the shame and it isn’t the blame
That stings like a white-hot brand–
It’s coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing, at last, she could never know why)
And never could understand!”
Charles Baudelaire, in a poem I’ve translated with video readings of the French and a different English translation, wrote an earlier (1857) and even darker interpretation of a figurative vampire:
Original French | Translation |
Charles Baudelaire’s “Le Vampire” | Charles Baudelaire’s “The Vampire” |
Toi qui, comme un coup de couteau, | You, like a piercing knife, |
Dans mon coeur plaintif es entrée; | Who entered my grieving heart; |
Toi qui, forte comme un troupeau | You, strong as a flock of demons, |
De démons, vins, folle et parée, | Who came adorned in madness. |
De mon esprit humilié | My shameful spirit |
Faire ton lit et ton domaine; | Made into your bed and your domain; |
— Infâme à qui je suis lié | —Vile woman to whom I am bound |
Comme le forçat à la chaîne, | As a convict to a chain, |
Comme au jeu le joueur têtu, | As a gambler to his game, |
Comme à la bouteille l’ivrogne, | As a drunkard to his drink, |
Comme aux vermines la charogne | As a vermin to his carcass, |
— Maudite, maudite sois-tu! | —Cursed, cursed—be you! |
J’ai prié le glaive rapide | I prayed for the swift sword |
De conquérir ma liberté, | To win my freedom, |
Et j’ai dit au poison perfide | And asked the treacherous poison |
De secourir ma lâcheté. | To save my cowardice. |
Hélas! le poison et le glaive | Alas! The sword and poison both |
M’ont pris en dédain et m’ont dit: | Have left me disdained and said: |
«Tu n’es pas digne qu’on t’enlève | “You’re not fit to be lifted |
À ton esclavage maudit, | from accurséd slavery, |
Imbécile! — de son empire | Fool! — if our efforts |
Si nos efforts te délivraient, | Could free you from her empire, |
Tes baisers ressusciteraient | Your kisses would revive |
Le cadavre de ton vampire!» | Your vampire’s carcass!” |
ASSIGNMENT
Write about vampires—figurative or literal. You could do this in the form of a poetic narrative, telling a story, or thinking about the symbolism of vampires to our culture or primal fears. You could also go with a comic, campy angle and just have fun with it. Feel free to draw on any of the sources above or any outside sources of inspiration.
Here’s how it works…
- Write your poem
- Post it on your blog
- Click the Mr. Linky button below, and in the new window that opens up input your name and direct url of the poem
- Visit others who have taken the challenge
- have fun!
blue flute…great to have you in the pub…cant wait to hear how the trip went…and i assume you are home safe now….i will admit i was not sure how vampires were going ot go over….but i had a lot of fun writing mine….i grew up on vampires to a certain extent…my teen years being goth, before they called it goth…what can i say…so i tapped into that a bit…and spun some poetry out of some of the vamp books i read through those years….
happy saturday everyone!
happy saturday and happy poetics poets… just jumping online for a second cause i have a house full of guests for our first barbecue now that summer has finally arrived…smiles… will be back on the reading trail in a bit…and looking forward to the responses to this fantastic prompt…thanks blue flute for being our host tonight…and…a bloddy mary for me please..smiles
Have fun at your barbecue!
Yucky subject. Great prompt!!
haha i love the contradiction in that statement bren…lol…it def is fun to think outside the norm…
I’ve volumes of Vampire poetry…but, because I am winding down on NaPoWriMo and I’ve got to get #28 written…I will write new rather than write-cycle 🙂 (Sorry…blame the cough syrup!) Certainly wishing I was immortal 😉 Awesome prompt and huge thanks Blue Flute!
oh i can not wait tash…smiles…
still sick? ack!
Watch out for that cough syrup!
Not JUST any old cough syrup! Rocking the Buckley’s…a great Canadian staple that reeks of pine needles…I KNOW there’s a poem at the bottom of the bottle 😉
Fabulous, Blue Flute.
I love it. Thanks so much for the originalitya as well as your own post.
Sadly, I have to go outside and see to storm damage in the garden: gale force winds have toppled our greenhouse.
I’ll come back into the warmth later.
Good luck, aprille–hope you can salvage things. The wind can be brutal to the garden this time of year.
Love the titfer HW: you are coming into your own tonight.
Have been ankle deep in glass shards. Hope we’ll find a glazier open tomorrow.
My precious Hippeastrums are OK.
Mine are already out for the summer–they were gorgeous this year. Glad to hear yours were spared–they seem to improve with age,; even though you can pick up the common varieties fairly cheap at the garden center, I like keeping the ones I’ve had going–part of the fun.
Thanks for hosting, Blue Flute–this is a great prompt, broad and open, yet focused and rich. I have something not too literal that may work. Be back later if it all works out.
I thought I’d come from an obtuse angle … then thought ‘what the hell, let’s have some fun in the pub tonight’ ….. so went straight for the jugular instead (so to speak). Cheers all, sleep well!
I did it and now I want to go and find a vampire…
lol…perhaps you wont have to look too far in this crowd…smiles.
I’m sure you’re right about that.
Just posted mine, lots of fun.Never been a vampire kind of girl really, but everyone has a dark side don’t they?!
last 4 lines….oo la la…
Still blushing… But thank you 😉
nikki….wish i was on facebook to read yours…but alas…i kicked the habit…smiles.
Better the habit than the bucket 🙂
true that….
Cool idea
Nikki- Your link doesn’t work.
alright…off on a date….be back in a bit to see what other nightwalkers show up…smiles…
nice…have fun on the date… i’m back after an evening of barbecue fun and on the the trail to read..
Where ya goin’?
we went out for dinner, its wet and bitter cold here..unexpectedly…so bread bowls and soup at panera and then the dollar theatre…
way to raise the bar!?! blue flute or blood pressure something … dare to be daring – whatever, it’s always cool to try something new fangled … oh let me out of here before I do some real foolishness … thanks for manning the bar; great research, info and topic – was a fun write as well
http://thepoet-tree-house.blogspot.ca/2012/04/on-paris-night.html
Ah poor Aprille! La Mistral! I hope you can get something of your greenhouse back on it’s legs.
Mine is a very short story. With a mention of La Mistral. I tried….only one time….to write a vampire poem/story…..and it’s just not in me.
And damn! I am half Hungarian! Go figure. I posted this very short story “Mlle Duchamps” and I hope, though not a poem, it is acceptable.
Quelle dommage! I already feel drained!
Lady Nyo
Thank you, M’lady,
It is cold and blowy out there. Tried to cover things in plastic until tomorrow. Too windy.
I’m ready for a hot chocolate.
Oh! that sounds good. Here? 80 plus degrees…but we had our own La Mistral for three days a earlier this week. It was scary. Get that chocolate and a good book.
Lady Nyo
I seem to be writing better late at night, so I may wait on this one. Although my most recent poem does feature a touch of pale skin against moonlight if anyone would like to check it out.
Better late at night? Hmmm, after you’ve gathered first hand vampire experience maybe 🙂 A bit fishy, that.
Bwahahahaha. Would you like to find out? 😉
Hi! Brian, Claudia and d’Crew…
Wow… What an excellent read, What an excellent post… too!
Tks, for sharing the image and the translation Of French poet Charles Pierre Baudelaire’s poetry.
[postscript: I know a couple Of people [that I sometimes hang out with] who consider themselves “real” life vampires…and Oh! no, they aren’t…Sparklers!… LOL ]
deedee 🙂
i knew you would like this one dee dee…smiles…
that’s some powerful, and repeating-motif poetry there! interesting 😉 have too many projects just at the moment, but always glad i stop in and take a sip of the drink (poetry-theme) of the day; thanks! 😉
This a true story of my superstious youth. http://blueridgemountainboy.blogspot.com/2012/04/vampires-of-my-youth.html
Blue Flute, thanks for the prompt. The links are all very good tonight, and I do just love a good vampire tale. Thanks
ha…and yours was even written before you knew about the prompt…bit of magic..eh..smiles
Hi Blue Flute! Now, the odd thing is that when I started my blog I was somewhat obsessed with Robert Pattinson (ha) and vampire novels and I did a lot of drawings of vampire elephants, vampire camels, even vampire turtles–but I’ve taken this in a more serious direction today. (On the other hand, if anyone searches vampire on my blog, they can find a vampire camel.) Ha. Thanks for the post. I especially enjoyed the Baudelaire. K.
Vampire elephants…somehow, I should have known.
Yes–the vampire camels and turtles were a bit over the top. I should find the links and post them. I was really in to all of this.
K.
it is the vampire camels that scare me a bit more…cause they spit too…grins
So, I found it! Bill Compton as Vampire Camel. http://manicddaily.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/bill-compton-as-camel/
I also did a truly terrible drawing of Bill Compton, Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman as vampire turtles. I think, looking at it, that I must have been in a very strange place in my life! http://manicddaily.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/friday-night-silliness-true-blood-turtles/
Last one! (Well, actually, there are several more.) But vampire elephant Bill Compton and Sookie is actually passable – better at least than camel and turtle. (Ha.) (Crazy.) http://manicddaily.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/bill-compton-sookie-stackhouse-elephants/
I would worry about you, K. if I didn’t know I am fully capable of being at least this crazy, and also if I weren’t laughing wildly right now. I haven’t seen the show, but I have a rich fantasy life, just made richer. The camel looks slightly forlorn instead of sinister tho–is Bill a languishing sort or something?
Well, I never actually saw the TV show-but read the books and he does have rather a hard row to hoe as they proceed, the richer, brawnier Vamp winning out. Hmmm… K.
Thank you! Though now vampire squid seem to be all the rage 😛
Vampire squid! I did do a squid drawing once, but I don’t think I gave it teeth.
haha k you are killing me…lol
u are awesome…
Not really, just extremely silly. I did the squid drawing when there was that squid that was predicting all the soccer victories. Poor thing has died now. (Hmmm…. Maybe that’s where the vamp bit comes in.) k.
Nothing like poetically playing on the dark side…gotta go with my strengths sometimes 🙂 Thanks so much for a prompt I could really sink my teeth into (apologies for the bad pun, just couldn’t help myself!)
hehe…smiles.
Sorry, late to the party tonight… but Blue Flute’s said the right word: “vampires”.
I’ve been keeping in my desk drawer a sonnet cycle of 14 sonnets (and a prelude). Not too many people have seen the entire cycle; it is based on the Seven Deadly Sins, with each sonnet alternately in the voice of the vampire and his victim.
My offering tonight is the first of these sonnets, spoken by the vampire – “The First Deadly Sin”.
excellent sam…
oh man…this sounds delicious man…on my way over….
good morning everyone!
I hope you enjoy mine! Mine is more about a good friend protecting from the fearful vampires than anything.
was very moved by yours…what a wonderful ode to your friend…
Great prompt – oh, the potential!
Really appreciated the way you translated the Baudelaire poem. Really appreciated this prompt!
In catching the comment exchange just above between stephenjash and claudia, I’m curious to read his because mine is about a friend also. I’m heading over there, then heading to bed, and looking forward to reading tomorrow!
Well….clicking on stephenjash’s link in comments takes me to la-la-land. Will have to hunt him down in the list a bit later.
lydia..his poem is linked under misfit.no. 36….a very moving write for his friend
heading to charlottesville for the day for a change of scenery…will catch up when i return this evening…peace poets…
This was big fully fanged fun this morning; thank you! 🙂
I had so much fun with this…I went full on Gothic Romance…
quite the gentleman vampire over at your place…nice..
I know I’m late with this entry. But thought I’d join anyway. Great prompt!
nice that you’re joining us myrna..always good to see you in the pub
Sorry my comment disappeared. Clearly just us drunks left as the place is empty. Left a video poem
hehe…you may be right….hicks..
Ohhh, can’t resist some creepy fun!
nice…just got home….have a few to catch up on…back on the trail….
Just finished reading everyone’s contribution. I am so impressed by how much quality work is out there. I’m also in awe of Brian and Claudia for going through everyone’s poems every week!
Been out all evening and just got home. I’ll be around tomorrow to read. Best not to indulge in vampire stories right before bedtime…
I was out of town for the weekend and completely missed the prompt, but how could I not sink my teeth into such a delicious subject!
http://wp.me/pPury-tR
I am a bit late not usually one for a genre type write but thanks Blue Flute i had a go for better or worse