Was the late 70s.
Things were always dreamlike…
all that peyote and weed made
it hard to concentrate on my day job.
Filing insurance claims,
correcting misspelled names.
My night job was more fun,
but the sleazy men who tucked
dollar bills in my bikini briefs
got a little too friendly at times.
The movies gave me solace…
especially the bizarre kind,
the insane kind….
Where else could I go
But to look at Henry Spencer’s face?
Superimposed over Uranus or Pluto…
or some totally made-up planet
where a spermatozoon emerges
to shock and awe.
a chick high on masculine
craving snacks and sugary drinks.
The chocolate covered mints were
my favorite.
David Lynch’s Eraserhead…
independent body horror…
dreamlike cult film,
bleak industrial landscape.
I grabbed my popcorn before
Surrealism exploded on the screen
with grocery full of dirt and withering plants.
Sipped my coke when the
Protag’s head popped off,
landed in the street,
broke open.
Erasers everywhere…
until the dream ceased.
A small child was never what he seemed.
But the lady in the radiator embraces dark and light.
Another taste of candy
and the screen turned black and silent.
Sandy DeLuca is an American author and visual artist, born in Providence, Rhode Island. As an author, she is known for dark and surreal prose; often visceral and shocking. She is best known for her work in the horror genre. She has produced critically acclaimed novels; DESCENT, MESSAGES FROM THE DEAD and MANHATTAN GRIMOIRE.
Over the past decade, much of her visual work has been related to the horror genre and her own writing. When she writes, she often sketches and paints characters and scenes inspired from her fiction. She illustrated the award-winning poetry collection, VAMPIRES, ZOMBIES & WANTOM SOULS, with Marge Simon’s poetry. She has also painted cover art for small press publications; ALBAN LAKE PUBLISHING and NIGHT TO DAWN BOOKS.
She sold her first piece of art in 1979, when a friend exhibited her drawings on a wall in a beauty shop. A few years later, she had her first solo exhibit, while still an art student, at the CCRI art gallery. Around 1987, she began to write articles, accompanying her photographs for a string of magazines. And several years later, her art, poetry and fiction began to see publication within the zines that were popular in 80’s and 90’s.
During that period, she launched her own publishing companies, Goddess of the Bay. Later, December Girl press, producing and editing magazines and anthologies; including horror anthos such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and crime noir fiction such as Crime Spree. She worked with late icons like Charlee Jacob and Ed Bryant. She published work by Brian Keene, Mary San Giovanni, Greg F. Gifune and Mike Liamo. She went on to to be nominated for the Bram Stoker * for poetry award in 2000.
She lives in New England with five feline companions–two feisty tortoiseshell cats, a mama cat named Gypsy and her two sons Leo and Gemini. She is an avid book collector, spending her free time reading, researching family genealogy and studying the metaphysical.