PUMPKIN
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
By Lu Sargeant
Night descends
And through this web of streets
Your pumpkins glow and sputter
Announcing to every passing stranger
All the things that make you scream.
Number three has carved an arachnid
Eight long, elegant legs wrapped round pumpkin skin.
And opposite,
Luke has rendered the monster under his bed,
So detailed I can almost pet
Its soft, hairy pelt with my fingers.
Next door, a classic vampire bat
Sits next to Dracula in all his October glory
Seductive, transforming his mortal quarry.
But my fears cannot be shown so easily.
How do you carve the story
Of Alzheimer’s eroding your memory
As you die confused, alone,
No mourners to grace your memorial?
How do you chisel the patriarchy
Stealing your choice, your voice?
How do you impress a climate disaster,
Into a miniature scene, sink holes opening
While pollution slowly poisons our lungs?
So instead, I carve a rat,
Whiskered and growing fat
On pumpkin flesh
Shut it out and watch it fade
As the candles die and dawn-light
Makes me feel safe again.