Slipknot and Other Dark Poems has a few "horror poems, " but the poetry is mainly literary poetry covering dark subjects--death, infedility, war, etc. From the small disappointments of everyday life to the inevitable horror of death, these poems bring those events and fears to life. Although the style is different from John Updike's poetry or Raymond Carver's prose or David Lynch's films, the subject matter is similar. A poem in this book may give the reader frisson, or it may carry to the reader a sense of catharsis. They are meant to "show" reality in its rawness, a reality which often seems frightening and out of our control. If the particular experiences in thse poems provoke the reader to once again face the most important issues of life and death, the poems have fulfilled their purpose.