JACK THE MODERN DAY RIPPER

Night time
About 8:30
So many people in the streets
So many to choose from

Knife in my hands
Long and sharp
Perfect for killing
Feels sweaty in my palm

I swiftly step back into the shadows
A police car drives by
That was close
My knife slipping with more sweat

I glance out
There it is
My victim
A lone pedestrian, even better
A tourist

I lunge
The knife slips
I curse loudly and slink back to the alley-way
And I wait

Wait for another victim
I can’t wait anymore
I must kill
But I take a pill
And a swig of wine
And I sleep
And never wake up
In my mind I know why
Jack killed me

~Vinh Vu~

This is my first attempted at (sort of) slam poetry. It is mainly free-verse but I have incorporated one rhyming line. I base it on the old English legend of Jack the Ripper and place him in the streets of Brooklyn, New York. In the first half of the poem I use more imagery and in the second half it’s more like I’m telling a story. In the last stanza I use the word ‘and’ a lot because I felt that it brings more suspense to the poem.

In the last stanza the pill that he takes is a suicide pill and I use the word ‘and’ a lot because I felt that it brings more suspense to the poem. My last line is a bit confusing because it is his thoughts in third person. He killed himself because he longed to kill someone. (He is a crazy person if you haven’t figured that out).

I got the idea from my poem after reading a random internet page about Jack the Ripper (not Wikipedia) and decided to see how he’d cope in the present day with drugs and alcohol.