The moon glows midst the cloud-devoured skies
As I push my cart of scrap metal home;
Upon the shadowed path, I tread alone
Till I smell a foul stench. Before my eyes,
Half-veiled by the moon’s waning light, I see
The outline of a human head ahead,
Whose gleaming eyes from out the shade cause dread
To stir and gnaw at my mind, viciously.
Not once do those eyes fixed upon me blink,
And then, the head toward me floats. Its stink
Defiles the air as it invades my sight —
A bodiless head with bleeding organs! Fright
Consumes me as the dung-stained ma lai nears,
Whose haunting moans are the last sounds I hear.

[Editor’s Note: in the folklore of Vietnam, the ma lai is a malicious, voraciously hungry nocturnal female spirit. She manifests as a human head with her internal organs trailing down from her neck.]

[Ngo Binh Anh Khoa is a teacher of English in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In his free time, he enjoys reading fiction and writing speculative poetry. His poems have appeared in Weirdbook, Star*Line, Spectral Realms, and other venues. He also writes haiku on occasions, many of which have received honorable mentions and awards in various contests in the US, the UK, Japan, Canada, and elsewhere.]