One year ago, I spoke with British musician and writer, Strange Nocturnal about all things Gothic Horror: music, literature, all of the above. For centuries, gothic media has captivated audiences with themes of fear and the supernatural, often having an aesthetic including elements like 1800s churches and gravestones. Even now, we are still incorporating gothic features into our media, for example, in movies and fashion. Today, I will be reviewing one of Strange Nocturnal’s written works, 21st Century Gothic Poetry.
Witches, gargoyles, fairies, and many more classic gothic entities live within the pages of 21st Century Gothic Poetry. Each poem is a world of imagery around a subject. A vampire dreams of death and love. A damned soul trapped in a red “crimson prison.” Curses and haunted hallways. Even though this is clearly a book written in our own time, Strange Nocturnal expertly molds and forms our thoughts to fit into a gothic mindset. The writing style rhymes in some places, flows to others, and has bursts of short and run-on sentences that dance in the moonlight. It feels like I am reading this in my castle by candlelight.
And I am so grateful for that because reading modern books can sometimes lose the old world gothic quality, whereas 21st Century Gothic Poetry still has it. It’s no surprise that as a musician and lyricist, Strange Nocturnal can write melodically to keep the eyes moving forward, taking in the dank, dark basements and cemetery dirt written about in his poems. In “A Sinister Seance,” I can almost feel the cool, autumn air as mourners gather to contact a love one who has passed. I can see the medium in a fit with the spirits of the dead, as if it were a movie playing in my head. There is a charm that is hard to come by these days.
… The corpses rotten remains for nights and deaths days,
“A Funeral Forecast,” 21st Century Gothic Poetry
deranged in povertys peace, down in earth deep…
21st Century Gothic Poetry is beautiful. Strange Nocturnal’s prose sets the scene for afternoon tea with the fae folk or a run through the library halls in a floor-sweeping dressing gown. Its pages reek of weathered tapestries and dried rose petals. A quick read, 21st Century Gothic Poetry is a short time spent in an absurdly gothic environment that makes my alternative heart delighted with joy. If you want a portal to the decrepit manor of your dreams, read this book.
Shop 21st Century Gothic Poetry on Amazon. Listen to Strange Nocturnal’s music on Spotify, and give him a follow on Instagram. See our other interviews on LetsTalkTerror.com and YouTube.
