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Halloween Proposal
A waxing moon slides behind its darkening shroud,
The north wind turns around and blows icy,
Lily’s shrieking cat, hissing and mad, leaps free—
Halloween again? For crying out loud
Rustling costumes all bloody-black, and orange
Infect the no longer still neighborhood streets;
Such scareful dress of cotton and pilloried sheets,
Can you say any of this could be called strange?
Old dry bones, witches on brooms aflight;
Goblins, ghosties, things that bump and boom
Seizing All Souls as terror grabs up all the room;
All present and correct on this October night
Bags and bags and bags candied-full fattening sweet
Await careful parental inspection and sure disposal—
Eat it all! Quite an impossible and silly proposal,
Despite your earnest best cast spell: Trick or Treat!
Trick Or Treat!
So, there I was
Doing Personal Private Secret Stuff
Getting ready for Halloween
As if that wasn’t enough
When in walked the cat
With Terror, Grime, and Gloom
And deposited his latest kill
In the middle of my just-mopped front room
So, there I left
My Personal Private Secret Stuff
And grabbed said kitty
By his scrawny-necked scruff
To put him out
In the yonder backyard
Hoping the damage wasn’t permanent
And the floor tweren’t totally marred
So, there I went for the mop
But it wasn’t there
Hanging from its bent hook
Underneath the cobwebbed lonely back stair
BUT…UP… THERE,
Across a cold October 31 moon
Figures slashing, thrashing, and flashing
Putting this old heart into a frightened swoon:
Witches upon brooms, stick-handles, and mops
Crazy calico clad creatures
Some even missing their necessary cranial tops!
So, it’s Happy Halloween
With all that Suspenseful, Terror-ridden Scary Stuff—
Did you get the good kind of candy?
Do you really believe that you bought enough?
Cuz here come the witches
And the ghosties and some things quite deplorable
(Though we really know that inside
Are youngling-type folk who are most adorable).
But don’t you believe it’s all just a simple thrill,
Beware of your cat returning with a kill;
And should you meet at your door a Witchie missing her cranial-type top
Kindly request of her, when finished, to return me my mop
Trick Or Treat!
A Wind, Promiscuous
A freshening wind
Promiscuously winds down the creek
Orange-black cat darts under the eaves
Two dead branches low as if to speak
A door squeaks, opens
The firmament is shaken
The cat shrieks
LIGHTS BLINK THEN ALL IS BLACK
It matters
A grin, a dripping of red pools
Fluttering wings escape
How does the future shape
Our dreams, if only ‘if only’ were so
Old and 60 and alone
Alone
A raining morning
Turn around
Floods in Wimberley
One dead, two missing
Happiness cancelled
Rescheduled for a drier time
Happy All Saints’ Eve
Jezebel’s Halloween
The scarred foil yielded,
Merlot found the bottom where dregs lay;
A cork sealed again,
Words limbered as Fall rains fell all day.
No pictures were ever sent from Pearlington.
Another’s dream has left the Pass,
Uncommon memories fade;
Time to refill one’s paisley-stained glass.
The black cat dropped down
Licking a lank paw;
A last leaf spirals to stillness
Alone in Death’s maw.
That chill in the middle of the back
Mocks the dread in your gut;
The screech-shriek died in a jaw slack;
Not in fear, twas anything but.
A stab of lightening you will recall,
Lit the surprise awaiting us all—
Jezebel was alive!
Then, your last fall.
It was just a simple October,
A parceled out poor Saturday.
A scandal of rains hung low,
But things were going your way.
Of course you were invited!
You’d bought that ruby bottle;
The costume party hinted promise,
And the fun engine roared to full throttle.
The storm rains had burst forth
As all the corks let fly.
Twas warm in the foyer
And your love you did espy.
The oriel would be deserted,
So Jezebel led you away:
Promises yielded to plea;
Yes, you could stay.
Upriver the dam was holding
As the partygoers were off at last.
Yes, alone with your Jezebel—
Passion unleashed as costumes off-cast.
But no one heard the rush…
Addams’ Dam was no more.
The wall of water they say
Was high—35 feet or two score.
Awakening drowning atumble,
You and Jezebel tried to cling to bedclothes,
But no succor there would be found;
Swept away as flood’s torrent flows.
Finding at long last each other;
Fear full afloat while loss uplifted;
The roar of the Onion Falls called.
You knew, only one can be shifted.
Grabbing Jezebel one time last,
You kicked for the nearing shore.
Flinging with all your might…
Her lips never to taste evermore.
A stab of lightening lit your Jezebel:
Safe on a branch was your fair miss—
She made it!
She reached… as you embraced the abyss.
Witches each year prowl the precincts
In company with jack-o’-lantern’s snarl obscene.
But things won’t ever be the same,
Not for Jezebel’s Halloween.
What’s Brown And Beautiful?
Overconsuming chocolate
A new vice come over around me:
Milk, semi-sweet, toll house dark morsels,
All to keep us in such a state of glee.
Safer than tequila,
Cocaine or texting at speed;
Give over that choklat—
A bite or twenty is all I need.
Who’s addicted?
Dr. Nestle is my bestest friend!
Add some five-spice to my hot chocolate
And sweetly bring this day to an end.
Halloween or Easter,
Bunnies or witches a-broom—
Cater us some cacao:
Give me M&Ms to fill this room!
Yep, it was Snickers
Where this vice had a start;
And the AHA declares
It’s all good for a heart!
Overconsuming chocolate,
A double-positive of sweet possibility.
Sharing your Almond Joy?
Seems a good start to me….
[nom, nom, nom, nom.…]
Say It Right Tonight
The leaves finished their languid swirl
The wizard was home
Finishing his All Hallowed Eve’s twirl
Twas past time to feed the gnome
Lanky Jefferson Toadstool
A knowledge-based Mithrandir
Never anyone’s doddering old fool
He quaffed his aged butter beer
Apparating to the third lower level rill
The wizard tossed Tiny Small his meat
Twas an evil depriving troll of his fill
A happy troll can be darkly sweet
The chime rang announcing this year’s gang
With crinkled smile he smoothed sparse hairs sandy
The castle door flourished open with a bang
After proper salutes the wizard offered season’s candy
The costumed gang fled cheering down the hill
Relieved the Wizard hadn’t conjured a scene
Nor produced his latest magic gory kill
Jefferson just offered a hardy Happy Halloween
Nota bene: Tis best to offer a proper ‘trick or treat’
Wouldn’t want you to become tonight’s Tiny Small’s meat!
Kitt
pueriles 