Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Day After Halloween


There was a strange lull the day after Halloween
A new shade of gray painted down the street
The tombstones blown and flapping to the earth,
The candy wrappers strewn on straggling lawns
The ghouls drifted directionless in the November breeze
That went out and bought some fine white teeth
at some time during a drizzling night
On the curious rounds of trick or treat.

On the morning by the daycare, by the blasted church
My feet crunched on the bones in the tiny leaves
Oblivious to the once fine filigree,
Oblivious to what lies underneath
There were fine ideas once on this thoroughfare
and elegant ladies on the sunny street
But the homes are now weary and coated in grime
They've seen far too many Halloweens.

We talked about pumpkins, of carving the eyes
and lighting up a memories from another time
But instead another year passed on by
And we left them to rot in the sodden ground
We fool ourselves with these empty ideas
Is there any more empty vessel than this gourd with hollow eyes?
That mocks us from the pumkin patch
and mouths empty words at the November skies.


11 comments:

  1. Aw, there's nothing more depressing than the day after Halloween... I guess it's the plummet from the sugar-high...or the let-down of remembering that the silly ghosts/goblins we let 'scare' us for the holiday are no longer fun anymore...

    Hope the day of Halloween was fun, at least! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah--my Halloween experience exactly. Especially since the nor'easter blew in and dampened everything including spirits. Loved the poem, David!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really like this poem. You make post-Halloween depression sound kind of romantic and glamorous and haunting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice job with this, David. I like thinking about the elegant ladies on the sunny street better than the bones under your feet, though.

    My solution to after Halloween depression is to buy Reese's cups on the half off sale at the drug store. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  5. kind of e.a.s -actually the sugar high goes on because there's all this candy left to eat. Thanx Jayne - my forays into the world of poetry are few and far between = oh glad to hear it Jen as I just felt on a post Halloween downer. Thanx Daisy - that's certainly an idea.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely poem. I also quite like the pumpkin photo - the light and shadow creating a nice effect!

    ReplyDelete
  7. A stunning post. I don't know who else could describe Halloween so poetically.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sadly, I didn't even buy a pumpkin. I do believe I don't like Halloween much.

    Love all these visuals, as always with your writings.

    ReplyDelete
  9. thanks so much Ash and for visiting. You are too kind Olga, but I think it needs some polishing - cheers Deborah - really - I mean it's cool in a way

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love this poem. I haven't heard too many poems/stories about the day after the fun it over. Good job!

    ReplyDelete

On Blog PTSD

Now then. What the heck. It seems I had forgotten about my blog completely rather than just neglecting it this time. To return after so long...