Boo!, All Hallow’s Eve by the fire, one year ago, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2006, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
North
pumpkin-faced Milk Duds
Willy Wonka candy corn
12 tricks for a treat?
South
Dead flash toothless smiles
2 Grandmothers walk the earth
Spirits dance on fire
East
gloved hands wipe chafed lips
crooked teeth eat twisted stems
shadows swim through oaks
West
hollow frosted rose
Hunter’s Moon drops the sky
veils the Evening Star
-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
-related to posts: WRITING TOPIC – HAUNTED, The Great Pumpkin Catapult
Great lines, especially the shadows swimming through oaks. 🙂
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soi-disant goblins haunt the night
Iridescent ghosts at the door
smiles brighten darkness
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jason, thanks. That was one of my favorites, too. And I have no idea where that line came from. I was imagining these faceless, dark, shadow ghosts from a Sci-Fi movie swimming fluently to and fro. 8)
R3, I like smiles brighten darkness. And soi-disant? I’m not too humble to say I had to look it up. Wow. That’s pretty uptown haiku. I’d love to hear a few more.
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Just checking in before I go out to dinner, and I have to say, I thought R3 had misspelled “so distant”! Oops. R3, you’re more erudite than I thought.
QM, I realized that I sent you an email telling you how much I loved this photo and haiku, but I should have declared my admiration on the blog.
BTW, QM, I am planning a shopping trip back to Portland. So many great furniture and rug and outdoor furniture stores here. I barely got started this afternoon and the stores were closing before I made a dent.
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p.s., in the first photo you posted from this Halloween night, I had thought the smaller mask was a person in the background and the larger mask a person in the foreground. But the smaller mask is the ornament on a cane or staff? Is that right?
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I have to come clean about soi-disant. I am not as erudite as this seems. Because most of my writing is technical writing I don’t have much opportunity to write for pleasure so one of the websites I visit everyday is http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/ to expose me to new words. Today’s word was soi-disant which fit in well with my haiku.
This is my first attempt at haiku since high school and I was trying to remember the poetic syntax so I used your examples as a template. I am glad you enjoyed my attempt.
R3
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ybonesy, good at seeing the details. The smaller “mask” is actually the face on a Halloween skeleton goblet. It’s being held by a boney hand glove (which is a black glove with plastic bones on the outside of the fingers). The larger mask is one Liz and I bought last year and she’s actually wearing it in this shot (and holding the goblet with the gloves). The photo does all the magic. 8)
Interestingly (is that a word?) the gloves and the goblet were two items I bought my last Halloween at my corporate job (what seems like decades ago but was only 5 years almost to the day that I left that job to write). Anyway, I worked with a fun bunch of people and we really went all out that Halloween in the office. The whole company had a contest for the group with the best costumes. Our group won that year. It was a fitting way to go out!
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R3, honesty is the best policy. I’m still impressed by soi-disant goblins!
yb, I never would have guessed there were so many great furniture and rug and outdoor furniture stores in Portland. You’ll have to keep us posted. Details, details.
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distant memory,
masks cover my son’s faces–
miles between us now
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breathepeace, I like your haiku. There is sadness in it. I hope all is well. Sending good energy to you and yours. It can’t be easy. I hope you are writing your heart out.
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Very perceptive, QM, but more nostalgic than sad. Those years of helping with costumes and sending kids out with pillowcases, to return with TONS of candy, were such a blast. After Halloween, my son, Andy, used to come down to breakfast already full from all the candy he’d eaten when he woke-up! Now, my kids all live far away from Wyoming: New York City, Saudi Arabia and Fort Riley, Kansas.
The really great and happy news is that Peter is due home this weekend, on leave for a month, following his return from Iraq. We will have a month-long celebration!
Thanks for your encouragement to write it all down. I am not good at it, yet, but happily, have continued my letter and postcard writing practices.
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That is happy news, breathepeace. It is good to celebrate. The relief you must feel.
The letter and postcard practices are HUGE. I admire that you have continued them. It’s important that writers have ongoing connection and relationship to other writers. It’s rewarding to run into a letter or postcard from a writing friend. I find them stuffed in books and notebooks once in a while. A great gift.
I trust your letters and stories will make their way to where they need to be.
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I think if I were travelling, I’d go west.
“Go west, young man, go west.” (less likelihood of being cursed, conned or eaten.)
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SpOoKy! :0
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I bought a new batch of postcards last Sat, breathepeace, inspired by you. Happy Halloween, all.
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West was a good choice! Last night we had about 30 Trick-or-Treaters all coming from the West! That’s a fair amount for our neighborhood that doesn’t have many kids.
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I love these, especially love the way they stretch haiku to cover unlikely subjects. My favorite line is “crooked teeth eat twisted stems.” Just the sound of it is lovely.
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D, you made my day. Especially given that your haiku is so masterful. Thank you.
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I’m a wee tad late but I know you will excuse me…
Very, very cool
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Never too late, Heather. You had tons going on over at your Halloween extravaganza! Your photos are amazing. Quite the event.
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