![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/TWAS-HALLOWEEN-NIGHT-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Peter Gregg Slater<\/p>\n
\u2018Twas Halloween night, when all thro\u2019 the house
\nEvery creature was stirring, even grandad an old souse.
\nThe candy bags were hung by the door with care,
\nIn hopes that trick-or-treaters would soon be there.<\/p>\n
The kids were all snug in their costume disguise,
\nWhile visions of Skittles danc\u2019d in their eyes.
\nAnd Mama in J. Crew, and I in my Yankees cap
\nHad just settled down for a long night of door tap.<\/p>\n
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
\nI sprang from the La-Z-Boy to see what was the matter.
\nAway to the window I flew like a flash,
\nTore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.<\/p>\n
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen wet leaves,
\nGave the lustre of mid-day to objects under the eaves.
\nWhen, what did my shuddering eyes sight,
\nBut a witch squadron in V-form flight.<\/p>\n
With a grungy crone in the lead, so twitchy and full of evil zest,
\nI knew in a moment it must be the Wicked Witch of the West.
\nMore rapid than eagles her coursers they came,
\nAnd she whistled, and shouted, and call\u2019d them by name;<\/p>\n
\u201cNow Slasher! Now Masher! Now Smasher and Vixen!
\nOn Varmint! On Putrid! On Sunder and Nixon!
\nTo the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
\nNow dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!\u201d<\/p>\n
As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
\nWhen they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
\nSo up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
\nWith their Swifters ashine with witches\u2019 brew.<\/p>\n
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof tile
\nThe prancing and prowling of the witches vile.
\nAs I drew in my head, and was turning around,
\nDown the chimney Witch Westy came with a bound.<\/p>\n
She was dress\u2019d in janky knockoffs, from her head to her foot,
\nAnd her clothes were all tarnish\u2019d with soot.
\nA bundle of sacks was flung on her back,
\nAnd she look\u2019d like a peddler just opening her pack.<\/p>\n
Her eyes – how they glared! her warts how distasteful,
\nHer cheeks were like mold, her nose hateful.
\nHer narrow nasty mouth was drawn to a gash,
\nAnd the faint mustache on her lip as white as ash.<\/p>\n
The stump of a stogie she held tight in her teeth,
\nAnd the smoke it encircled her head like a wreath.
\nShe had a hatchet face, and a nose like a beak
\nThat wobbled when she shriek\u2019d, like a hose with a leak.<\/p>\n
She was lean and mean, a loathsome old doxy
\nAnd I shook when I saw her like I had a poxy
\nA squint of her eye and a thrust of her head
\nSoon gave me to know I had much to dread.<\/p>\n
She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work
\nAnd fill\u2019d her sack from our candy stash, then turn\u2019d with a jerk,
\nAnd drawing her finger across her throat,
\nAnd giving a snarl, up the chimney she rose with her tote.<\/p>\n
She sprang to her Swifter, to her coven gave a whistle,
\nAnd away they all flew, like bullets from a pistol.
\nBut I heard her holler, ere she drove out of sight-
\n\u201cA miserable Halloween to all, and to all a terrible night.\u201d<\/p>\n
###<\/p>\n
Peter Gregg Slater is a historian whose scholarship in American intellectual and cultural history is often referenced in both academic and popular publications. His poetry, fiction, parody, and essays have appeared in \u201cDash,\u201d \u201cWorkers Write!,\u201d \u201cThe Westchester Review,\u201d \u201cThe Satirist,\u201d and \u201cTwentieth Century Literature,\u201d among other publications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
‘Twas Halloween Night Peter Gregg Slater \u2018Twas Halloween night, when all thro\u2019 the house Every creature was stirring, even grandad an old souse. The candy bags were hung by the door with care, In hopes that trick-or-treaters would soon be there. The kids were all snug in their costume disguise, While visions of Skittles danc\u2019d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[418],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-halloween-poems"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}