Boo! Happy Halloween!

Apparition Contrition

poem by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

Once while on a chilly and bumpy hayride,

once while walking through the double-span covered bridge,

once while exploring the abandoned farmhouse,

once while throwing corn at a passing car,

I felt the aura of an apparition.

Once while in the upstairs of my grandfather’s bakery,

once while in the writer’s garret of the old poet laureate,

once while in the secret passageway of The House of Seven Gables,

once while in the crawl space of our cabin up north,

I smelled a ghost.

Once while in the fiction stacks at the old library,

once while in the elevator to the 13^th floor,

once while in the telephone booth at the train station,

once while in the voting booth in a city where I lived long ago,

I heard a ghost.

Once atop the windy hill,

once inside the old gray hotel,

once at the top of the creaking stairway,

once at the end of the narrow hallway,

I placed the old-fashioned key into the keyhole.

With a tense turn of the key,

the door opened into a candlelit room

where there was no bed—

only an antique, freestanding mirror.

I looked into that full-length mirror

and saw

the ghost

was I.

* * *

Enjoy the tales, tricks, and treats of Halloween!

Alice and Leader Dog Willow

October 26, 2022, Wednesday

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