The Poe Arts Festival Poetry Contest

I am going to enter the Poetry Contest for this years Poe Arts Festival coming up in Philadelphia and would like your help in determining what piece I should enter. Below are three (of many) Poe inspired poems, I will be recording one on video for the contest. Comment below and let me know which one I should record for this contest. 

Plus, if you like these, you should check out Walking Before Dawn for more works.

Solitude


It haunts me in times of solitude
A vague whisper of a dream I can almost remember
The lingering warmth of a forgotten touch
I sense it there, in the darkness
In the quiet moments of times I can barely recall
Resting on the limits of my reason
It calls to me, urging me to cry out
Only to have my voice echo into nothingness
It is a history that was written in stone ages ago
And every figure of it has faded away
To leave me here to live in the shadow of a wraith
A vision of what was and a lost wish of what may be
I know it, and I know it is there
It waits for me to discover it once more
To unearth the secrets it holds and find myself
Because without it I am but an undefined impression of possibilities
It becomes me as I have always been a part of it
A promise that has existed since the dawn of thought
A gift inherent in the very fabric of the soul
But it hangs shrouded by the hopes of man
Concealed in ghostly images of all that it should have been
Here in the silence I hear it through the veil of time
And its words reverberate in the core of me
I quiver, though in fear or anticipation I cannot be sure
All my knowledge of it is a spiral of confusion
To reach out, to grasp it, to understand
But it is the phantom that lurks over my shoulder
That dream I can almost touch
It visits the edge of my memories and lines them with silver
It comes to me while I am alone with the past
And its vanishing countenance stays with me

Paradox

I stand quietly upon the land
The lucid doorway alive at last
Blind but I can see
Dead but I can breathe
Random elements twist through dark matter
Creating life from the impossible
A lone specimen from the mind of the master
Edgar called; he lost his cat
Is it here?
Is this hollow existence merely a dream?
A spectral theory rising from veiled dimensions
Anyone here?
Can you hear me?
I wade across the depths
Quantum decay wandering through a forbidden abyss
Trapped by stasis in an unfamiliar world
Alive?
Dead?
Misunderstood?
I can feel every sensation,
But cannot touch the cool spring breeze
Paralyzed inside this void
Memorable yet strange
No one answers
Loneliness abound
Darkness spirals through the hole
Time lost to decades of denial
Failed experiments fill every corner
Another string is strung
… And the cat cries from the wall

Darkest Night

Help me please; protect me, as these shadows close,
Oh, what have I done, cleanse my darkest darkened heart.

The eyes! Stop…no! The eyes!
Staring deep within the bounds of my soul,
Why me, why now, why?
The screams grow louder as the howling winds grow,
Swallow me whole, silence my cries,
Bury me alive, inside these walls; entomb me by your side.

Midnight nears, hear the echoes of bells?
Fetid flesh binds every move; every quiver,
Scarlet tears, sips of blood, the oceans swell,
Your whispers call, heartbeats shiver,
Something is coming, something from the well,
Save me, do not allow me to die alone!

The aging stones hide the illicit deeds,
Your labia removed, impaled by love and despair,
Truths turn to rust; breasts turn shallow, pale eyes bleed,
For in your lair, scents of lust fill the air,
And empty hearts and dying embers calm my needs,
Hear my pleas, forgive me, and make me whole again.

Years have passed; your pulse has faded,
Memories remain, visions so pure,
The blade upon your neck, an empty sacrifice, long I have waited,
For this day, and every day, for you to open the door,
Sins of flesh, Satan’s touch, and two lives sated,
Together at last, my tomb awaits, finally you call.

At last I hope, my deeds are forgiven,
And you will embrace my darkened soul.