Sara Tantlinger

THE WOLF OF MOSCOW

26 Shabolovka Street
patrons arrive, waiting
not knowing my changed name
and the Red Army I left behind
but I carry rubies in my head
red, red, always red

customer wants to buy a horse,
wants to get to know me
lonely eyes easy to find
in these days of newly approved
private enterprise

the vodka is rarely refused
but always ready and offered freely
except for the price of rubies in my head,
my hammer raining down
their throats slit
red, red, always red

the swollen beetle-black
bags of corpses float down the river
and I am called the Wolf of Moscow
but Sophia doesn’t mind the howling—
my dear wife, my little helping sheep
does not have lonely eyes
but she is still easy to find
handing me the hammer
understanding crimson needs

understanding that murder
is an awfully easy job,
but the pattern bleeds out
and the wolf leaves prints
in the dirt for two years
no more private enterprise

and the last of lonely eyes
is the last time this wolf sees Moscow
sees Sophia next to me
the firing squad all lined up
waiting to complete
an awfully easy job
red, red, always red


Gerald So reads "The Wolf of Moscow":



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Sara confesses: "I was reading so-called last phrases by serial killers (for research purposes, of course), and Vasili Komaroff’s was that he described murder as 'an awfully easy job.' That, along with him being known as “The Wolf of Moscow,” inspired the poem. I couldn’t resist borrowing those bloody details!"

SARA TANTLINGER resides outside of Pittsburgh on a hill in the woods. She is the author of Love For Slaughter and has published pieces with Page & Spine, The Literary Hatchet, and the HWA Poetry Showcase Volume II. Find her on Twitter @SaraJane524.

Sara J. Tantlinger

DANGEROUS HONESTIES

I close my eyes
and HAZARD flashes
red against the darkness

summer heat boils
thoughts to gurgling
mucus, but I can’t regret
the contrast
of his blood-spattered
silence against emerald
blades
of whispering grass

the skull bones stare
back at me, bleached
and accusing

but HAZARD
I think I hear
the sirens

and HAZARD
his skin was so
dangerous

the way it sang lullabies
lured me closer
so I am faulted,
but will they see
the beauty, the art

the HAZARD
of his pelt
hanging from the laundry line
baking in the sun
and how the butterflies
have landed
on a filleted chunk
of thigh

I cocooned
myself
in a coat
of his flesh
but HAZARD
the sirens approach
and I have no more knives

because I miss his voice
and how he instructed me
to destroy the raging angels
inside my confused eyes

I thought he was false,
but boys with blue lips
tell no lies


Sara reads "Dangerous Honesties":



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Sara confesses: "'Dangerous Honesties' was inspired by the theme challenge to combine summer and crime. I couldn’t get the image of someone’s skin hanging from a laundry line and dancing in the breeze out of my head, so I played with that idea and the poem took off."

SARA TANTLINGER is currently pursuing her MFA through Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction program. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Literary Hatchet, Liquid Imagination, Inklight, The Five-Two, HWA Poetry Showcase Volume II, Eye Contact, and the 2014 SFPA Halloween Poetry Reading. Find her on Twitter at @SaraJane524

Day 8: Michael A. Arnzen interviews Sara J. Tantlinger

Michael A. Arnzen:

One of the things I enjoy about National Poetry Writing Month (aka “NaPoWriMo”) is Gerald So’s “30 Days of the 5-2” Crime Poetry blog tour. He asks poets and readers to contribute something for a calendar day related to his journal of crime poetry. I’ve participated in the past (and I also published a new piece at the 5-2 just last month for “Pi Day”) but this time around I decided to do something different: conduct an interview.

Click on "interview" above to hear and read the text of Sara J. Tantlinger's Five-Two poem "Love Me Like a Murder Scene", then hear Mike's interview with Sara at his site Gorelets.

Best of the Net 2015

I've submitted six Five-Two poems for Sundress Publications' 2015 Best of the Net anthology consideration. Because I believe every poem I accept is the best, I had Twitter users pick three of the six:

Five-Two fans, choose 3 of the poems we send to @SundressPub's Best of the Net. Favorite tweets w/ hashtag #BestPoemsOnCrime to vote.

— The Five-Two (@PoemsOnCrime) July 9, 2015

Here are the three most-Favorited poems, along with three of my choice, in the order they were published at The Five-Two:

• "The Alphabet of Murder" by Nancy Scott
• "First Grade Criminal" by Anne Graue
• "You Didn't Mean to Kill Anyone" by Roger Netzer
• "Star Wars: Dark Forces Re-Awaken..." by Elizabeth Lash
• "We Didn't Know" by Bill Baber
• "Love Me Like a Murder Scene" by Sara J. Tantlinger

Congratulations and good luck to all.

Sara J. Tantlinger

LOVE ME LIKE A MURDER SCENE

You hold me like a ransom note
and love me the way a knife loves
a heart. The police tape is strewn
around us, yellow ribbons that scream
caution, caution, what have you done?

This murder scene love bleeds dark
rubies under my skin, and you can slice
into me all you like, but I remain viciously
tied to our passion crime, a wolf who refuses
to die by anything other than your mouth.

Your eyes, bruised with affection, promise
me forever, but I know that does not mean
golden sun and songbirds. Forever is cruel,
a chilled finality between us. I want it anyway
because I know you will meet me at the end.

Stop your shaking hands. Hold the knife against
our chests, grip me tight in your threatening
embrace, and I’ll promise to love you even when
your skin rots from your corpse. I will clutch your
bones to my heart and bid the world farewell.


Sara reads "Love Me Like a Murder Scene":



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Sara confesses: "The poem spawned from fascination with tragic, self-consuming love. How would Heathcliff be remembered if he didn’t beg Catherine Earnshaw to haunt him to his grave? That idea sparked the first line about possessing love like a ransom note, and then the poem’s story took off."


Guest editor Karen Petersen's ruling: "From the tantalizing title to its closing line, 'Love Me Like A Murder Scene' immediately got my attention and kept it. The poet uses crime scene homicide metaphors with a creepy brilliance that captures the obsessive nature of intense passion. I hope to see more from this writer in the future."

SARA J. TANTLINGER is pursuing her M.F.A. through Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program. She enjoys writing horror poetry and can be found at odd hours of the night drinking tea and writing strange things. Find her on Twitter at @SaraJane524