HALLOWE'EN INDIGNATION MEETING
A sulky witch and a surly cat
And a scowly owl and a skeleton sat
With a grouchy ghost and a waspish bat,
And angrily snarled and chewed the fat.
It seems they were all upset and riled
That they couldn't frighten the Modern Child,
Who was much too knowing and much too wild
And considered Hallowe'en spooks too mild.
Said the witch, "They call this the human race,
Yet the kiddies inhabit Outer Space;
They bob for comets, and eat ice cream
From flying saucers, to get up steam!"
"I'm a shade of my former self," said the skeleton.
"I shiver and shake like so much gelatine,
Indeed I'm a pitiful sight to see--
I'm scareder of kids than they are of me!"
by Margaret Fishback
HALLOWE'EN
Tonight is the night
When dead leaves fly
Like witches on switches
Across the sky,
When elf and sprite
Flit through the night
On a moony sheen.
Tonight is the night
When leaves make a sound
Like a gnome in his home
Under the ground,
When spooks and trolls
Creep out of holes
Mossy and green.
Tonight is the night
When pumpkins stare
Through sheaves and leaves
Everywhere,
When ghoul and ghost
And goblin host
Dance round their queen.
It's Hallowee'en!
by Harry Behn
HALLOWEEN {too, two}
Who raps at my window?
Who in a white sheet
Runs across the midnight lawn
Without the sound of feet?
What moon grows in the East
So huge and dusky red?
Who howls from the chill within the hill
Where the farmer's hound lies dead?
The dry leaves twist and rattle
Alive in an evil spell.
Down by the pond the man who drowned
Tolls a wavering bell.
The wind has hardly wakened,
Yet flapping through the air
Fly shapes with wings and bony things
And forms with jagged hair.
Who blows at my candle?
Whose fiery grin and eyes
Behind me pass in the looking glass
And make my gooseflesh rise?
Who moved in that shadow?
Who rustles unseen?
With the dark so deep I dare not sleep
All night on Halloween.
by Marnie Pomeroy
QUEEN NEFERTITI
Spin a coin, spin a coin,
All fall down;
Queen Nefertiti
Stalks through the town.
Over the pavements
Her feet go clack
Her legs are as tall
As a chimney stack;
Her fingers flicker
Like snakes in the air,
The walls split open
At her green-eyed stare;
Her voice is thin
As the ghosts of bees;
She will crumble your bones,
She will make your blood freeze.
Spin a coin, spin a coin,
All fall down;
Queen Nefertiti
Stalks through the town.
Anonymous
SKELETON PARADE
The skeletons are out tonight,
They march about the street
With bony bodies, bony heads
And bony hands and feet.
Bony bony bony bones
With nothing in between
Up and down and all around
They march on Halloween.
by Jack Prelutsky
ON HALLOWEEN
On Halloween I'll go to town
And wear my trousers upside down,
and wear my shoes turned inside out
And wear a wig of sauerkraut.
by Shelley Silverstein
THREE GHOSTESSES
Three little ghostesses,
Sitting on postesses,
Eating buttered toastesses,
Greasing their fistesses,
Up to their wristesses,
Oh, what beastesses,
To make such feastesses!
Anonymous
PUMPKIN
After its lid
Is cut, the slick
Seeds and stuck
Wet strings
Scooped out,
Walls scraped
Dry and white,
Face carved, candle
Fixed and lit,
Light creeps
Into the thick
Rind: giving
That dead orange
Vegetable skull
Warm skin, making
A live head
To hold its
Sharp gold grin.
by Valerie Worth
GHOULIES AND GHOSTIES
From ghoulies and ghosties,
Long-leggity beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us.
An Old Spell
Poetry by Famous Poets/
Poetry: Nature & Gardening/
Background & Graphics courtesy of:
HALLOWE'EN INDIGNATION MEETING
A sulky witch and a surly catAnd a scowly owl and a skeleton sat
With a grouchy ghost and a waspish bat,
And angrily snarled and chewed the fat.
It seems they were all upset and riled
That they couldn't frighten the Modern Child,
Who was much too knowing and much too wild
And considered Hallowe'en spooks too mild.
Said the witch, "They call this the human race,
Yet the kiddies inhabit Outer Space;
They bob for comets, and eat ice cream
From flying saucers, to get up steam!"
"I'm a shade of my former self," said the skeleton.
"I shiver and shake like so much gelatine,
Indeed I'm a pitiful sight to see--
I'm scareder of kids than they are of me!"
by Margaret Fishback
HALLOWE'EN
Tonight is the nightWhen dead leaves fly
Like witches on switches
Across the sky,
When elf and sprite
Flit through the night
On a moony sheen.
Tonight is the night
When leaves make a sound
Like a gnome in his home
Under the ground,
When spooks and trolls
Creep out of holes
Mossy and green.
Tonight is the night
When pumpkins stare
Through sheaves and leaves
Everywhere,
When ghoul and ghost
And goblin host
Dance round their queen.
It's Hallowee'en!
by Harry Behn
HALLOWEEN {too, two}
Who raps at my window?Who in a white sheet
Runs across the midnight lawn
Without the sound of feet?
What moon grows in the East
So huge and dusky red?
Who howls from the chill within the hill
Where the farmer's hound lies dead?
The dry leaves twist and rattle
Alive in an evil spell.
Down by the pond the man who drowned
Tolls a wavering bell.
The wind has hardly wakened,
Yet flapping through the air
Fly shapes with wings and bony things
And forms with jagged hair.
Who blows at my candle?
Whose fiery grin and eyes
Behind me pass in the looking glass
And make my gooseflesh rise?
Who moved in that shadow?
Who rustles unseen?
With the dark so deep I dare not sleep
All night on Halloween.
by Marnie Pomeroy
QUEEN NEFERTITI
Spin a coin, spin a coin,All fall down;
Queen Nefertiti
Stalks through the town.
Over the pavements
Her feet go clack
Her legs are as tall
As a chimney stack;
Her fingers flicker
Like snakes in the air,
The walls split open
At her green-eyed stare;
Her voice is thin
As the ghosts of bees;
She will crumble your bones,
She will make your blood freeze.
Spin a coin, spin a coin,
All fall down;
Queen Nefertiti
Stalks through the town.
Anonymous
SKELETON PARADE
The skeletons are out tonight,They march about the street
With bony bodies, bony heads
And bony hands and feet.
Bony bony bony bones
With nothing in between
Up and down and all around
They march on Halloween.
by Jack Prelutsky
ON HALLOWEEN
On Halloween I'll go to townAnd wear my trousers upside down,
and wear my shoes turned inside out
And wear a wig of sauerkraut.
by Shelley Silverstein
THREE GHOSTESSES
Three little ghostesses,Sitting on postesses,
Eating buttered toastesses,
Greasing their fistesses,
Up to their wristesses,
Oh, what beastesses,
To make such feastesses!
Anonymous
PUMPKIN
After its lidIs cut, the slick
Seeds and stuck
Wet strings
Scooped out,
Walls scraped
Dry and white,
Face carved, candle
Fixed and lit,
Light creeps
Into the thick
Rind: giving
That dead orange
Vegetable skull
Warm skin, making
A live head
To hold its
Sharp gold grin.
by Valerie Worth
GHOULIES AND GHOSTIES
From ghoulies and ghosties,Long-leggity beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us.
An Old Spell
Poetry by Famous Poets/
Poetry: Nature & Gardening/
Background & Graphics courtesy of: