Cover Art: Daniel Spoerri, Schussrichtungsstab from Criminal Investigations (Die Morduntersuchung). 1971-72. Screenprint on canvas. MOMA.

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Our Monsters, Ourselves

I teach monsters;
or rather, I assign readings about them.
Most students get into it, see
the movies are not just mindless
entertainment, that scenes of
stalking, stabbing, and retribution
are intellectual and visceral, tearing
at both brain and gut. They learn how to
re-stitch primordial fears into discourse.
 
The vampire is not just a vampire.
The zombie is not just a zombie.
 
Stephen King wrote that horror movies satisfy
a craving, a puritanical need
to see right and wrong divided,
to watch others burn.
As their corpses lay on the ground,
we feel vindicated: they deserved it
for bullying, lying, deviating
from civilized morality, from us.
 
To survive, follow the rules:
no drugs
no alcohol
no premarital sex
no promises of return.
 
I always ask, Haven’t you watched Scream?
Most students are willing to learn
how to look past rotting flesh
and see the only monsters are us.
We destroy each other every day,
justifying the atavistic need within
to strike a match and believe
this is a trial, where we wait
until the monster is vanquished
to ask if the executioner could become
the executed. 

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Justin Holliday is an English lecturer and poet. His work has appeared in Occulum, Impossible Archetype, Queen Mob's Teahouse, and elsewhere.

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