Horror Haiku Club Prompt
September 10 - Bilwis & Other Feldgeister
German folklore has an entire class of field spirits called Feldgeister. My favorites are the Rye Mother we met yesterday, and the Bilwis we’ll meet today. The Bilwis comes in two varieties. As a demon it has wild hair and wears a tricorn hat. It destroys crops in the form of a giant ball or whirlwind.
Your prompt is BILWIS
Hang him o’r the fire
Who stalks corn with sickle toes
Let him desiccate
As a human, the Bilwis ties a small sickle to its big toe and runs through the fields, cutting rye as it does. To punish a Bilwis, hang some of the grain it cuts over the fire. As the grain dries, so will the trickster, creating a living mummy.
Wikipedia has a great list of Feldgeister, write about your favorite!
First the locusts came
Now the dancing specters twirl
Crops wither crows feast
Over the fields of grain
blow winds. Madness is not in
ghosts but in the winds
___
The howling is its own
pulse of tension and release -
the wind sounds. I howl
___
One says she sees ghosts
out by the wheatsheaves - it's false,
they're spiralling winds
___
Winds raise husks and straw,
blow them in my eyes - my tears
spirits and monsters