Pumpkin Palooza
Spooky,
Kooky,
Mostly
Ghosty.
Pumpkins round
Cover ground.
Corn stalks propped.
Traffic stopped.
Costumes galore:
Short dinosaurs!
Spiders! Black cats!
Witches’ cone hats!
Ghosts and goblins whirl.
Dancers leap and twirl.
Black witches ride on brooms.
Who’s hidden in that tomb?
Tiny ghosts are wrapped in sheets.
All around are candy treats.
Tonight on streets, village greens,
Carved pumpkins glow—Halloween!
Peter Venable has been writing poetry for fifty years and his poems have appeared in The Lyric, The Merton Seasonal, The Christian Century, and other publications. More of his work can be found at petercvenable.wordpress.com. His “Roofless Church” merited an Honorable Mention in The Best Poems of 2024 in the SCP’s International Poetry Competition.
I like it. A clever progression in syllables every stanza of expanded imagery, that carries the reader along until the final exclamation.
Great stuff, Peter. Happy Halloween!
What a joyous celebration of Halloween! If I could get away with trick-or-treating at my ripe age I would. Thank you for the nostalgic glow.
“Pumpkin Palooza” (great title) captures the very essence of Halloween with its dazzling dance of delight. Thank you, Peter!
Love the joy in it, Peter. Now I want to dress up!
Splendid example of syllabic poetry in English, Peter! And it builds by organizing impressions into kinds of words, then into sentences that grow in complexity–all the while bringing in new images for a tower of treats.
Very nice, Peter! I once wrote a poem with increasingly longer lines. You’ve given me the urge to do it again. Thanks!