{"id":66094,"date":"2024-10-26T00:54:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T00:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=66094"},"modified":"2024-10-26T16:33:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T16:33:13","slug":"they-say-this-house-is-haunted-by-stephanie-dupont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/they-say-this-house-is-haunted-by-stephanie-dupont\/","title":{"rendered":"They Say This House is Haunted by Stephanie DuPont"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"They<\/h2>\n

They Say This House is Haunted<\/h2>\n

by Stephanie DuPont<\/p>\n

All I observe are visitors, slipping between the walls,
\nunafraid. They come and go,
\nsinging in salted winds,
\nbreathing lavender and rose.
\nDo they notice the shadowed cloud?
\n\u201cThey say this house is cursed;\u201d
\nYet, I am the one who\u2019s cursed.<\/p>\n

Witness the distress of my face\u2014
\nstained-glass windows darkened with age,
\nmy gloomy clapboard sides. Hidden
\nin the wilting ferns, gripping me,
\nslowly strangling. This place once sheltered lives,
\nbound by the tales spun under my roof.<\/p>\n

Malevolence slithers down the seven gables,
\ncurling through chimneys, dead ashes,
\nto my solitary table\u2014waiting,
\nalways waiting.<\/p>\n

I drift in and out\u2014
\ncross the threshold\u2014don\u2019t mind my creaking floors,
\nmy weathered doors, decaying bricks\u2014
\n\u2014welcome to the dark\u2014embark.
\nThe candlelight flickers, shadows swirl\u2014
\ndo you sense the past pressing close?<\/p>\n

Nathaniel, are you there?
\nDid you feel the weight of guilt buried deep
\nbehind eyes
\nin portraits hung and framed?
\nOh, what these rooms have seen\u2014
\neach secret that\u2019s been lost<\/p>\n

like a witch<\/p>\n

in Salem, 1692<\/p>\n

I persist. I remain.
\nClimb my secluded staircase if you dare,
\nstains cling to every step.
\nIt\u2019s not the ghosts that haunt me here\u2014
\nit\u2019s the wallpaper tearing
\nlike a soul without adhesive.<\/p>\n

This house is more than wood and stone\u2014
\nit keeps the sins we thought were thrown
\naway. Yet here they linger, still alive.
\nAnd I? I invite all who come to hide.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stephanie DuPont, originally from Miami, Florida, writes poetry to articulate what feels impossible to say, uncover new ideas, and explore the profound histories and small moments that shape our lives. Her work has appeared in The Seventh Quarry Press, Snakeskin, Reach Poetry, and The Dawntreader.<\/em> She is the winner of multiple poetry contests. A passionate advocate for nature, she has volunteered in the Florida Everglades and at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This haunting masterful poem from Stephanie DuPont invites readers into the tortured consciousness of a historic New England house, where the echoes of Salem’s dark past intertwine with supernatural visitors and centuries of accumulated secrets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[418,469],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-halloween-poems","category-horror-poem"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}