We came early, on October 31, to avoid the crowds of Nov. 1 and 2. Friends came to help me decorate the graves. Beer, water, dead bread, chocolate and marigolds completed the decor and la offrendas. Then we used our extra marigold petals to decorate several other graves that seemed as though no one was going to remember them. Today there were a few dozen families decorating the graves of loved ones. Tomorrow it will be busy and on Nov. 2 even busier.
Web
Please do not procrastinate when walking ‘neath these wires,
for one who does so may not get that for which he aspires.
Trick or Treat acquires more meaning . Must I even mention
that straying too close to this web may bring unsought detention?
Heed well my warning for tonight what seems to be is not.
As you look for treats you seek tonight, you also may be sought.
This spooky spider is not fake, in fact it is too real.
It will abet your progress and make of you a meal.
This spider, viewed in my friends Beck and Lach’s yard, was HUGE. It’s body alone was three inches long. Just in time for Halloween. No need for other decorations.
Prompt words today are procrastinate, trick, spooky, abet and detention.
This particular hibiscus is not in my garden. I had to stop the car to photograph it in Mirasol!!
For Cee’s FOTD prompt
The Haunting
When bells toll at midnight, the chiming of each bell
signals that the scarlet one has begun the knell
to release the ghoulish souls and all the bats of Hell!
They seep up through our floorboards and wait for light of day,
twist themselves into our minds as we helpless lay,
toying with our dreaming as they pause along the way.
They seek out the damp corners everywhere they go,
trying to relieve the parch of the fires below,
cooling off scorched spirits in the river’s flow.
As a sort of trial, they may choose a wild horse,
winding bony fingers through its mane, they guide its course,
streaming through the heather and leaping over gorse.
But when dusk comes to dim the sun and tuck away the light,
it is the time for spirits to begin their fearsome flight
and the frightening of humans will become their main delight.
Then as children mime their horrors while going trick-or-treating,
when they see a darker shadow or hear a wild heart beating,
they may feel more evil presences in spirits they are meeting.
As they go door-to-door or wander a dark lane,
they may detect the real creatures that they seek to feign,
and feel a certain horror that they can’t explain.
So, children out on Halloween, heed each one that you meet.
Be sure the ghoulish one you pass really just wears a sheet,
and remember that a human ghost will be possessed of feet!
These are the prompt words for Wordle 525: ring, scarlet, light, damp, fright, trick, chime, bat, floor, ghoulish, trial.
These are the pieces I’ll be showing at Jesus Lopez Vega’s “Dia de Muertos” Group Show at his studio gallery, Rio Zula #7 in Ajijic from 4-7 PM on November 2. (Rio Zula is the street one block west of Yves Restaurant and the street Casa Linda is on.)
Click on photos to enlarge size and read captions.
Since it looks like the captions are cut off in the enlarged versions of the photos, here is the complete description of the pieces:
Davey Jones’ Locker
Davy Jones’ Locker is a metaphor for the bottom
of the sea: the state of death among drowned sailors
and shipwrecks. It is used as a euphemism
for drowning. Silver coins spilling from a pirate chest
seem to be doing these victims of shipwreck
at sea no good at all. Media includes sand and shells
collected from various Mexican beaches by the artist.
Day of the Dead in Mexico
Offerings to the dearly departed include my
miniaturized version of a real book:
Noche de Muertos Muestrario Poetico en Michoacan,
a volume of Day of the Dead poems.
Waiting for the day of the Dead
Father and Child skeletons wait
patiently for Dia de Muertos and
their yearly portion of “dead bread.”
Altar
This skeleton has already consumed
one loaf of dead bread and is
ready for his next one.
These are the artists in the show:
Poster art is by Antonio Lopez Vega.
Please join us there for art, music, refreshments and to meet the artists!
The More the Scarier
When a single apparition tried to haunt the candy store,
they just admired his costume and gave him one treat more
than all the trick or treaters who’d appeared before his visit.
I wonder if his timing isn’t very good or is it?
When he planned his visit, he was counting on horrific,
but when the owner simply said his costume was terrific,
his esteem somehow defrayed his disappointment that
the only creature that he seemed to scare was just the cat.
He returned to the graveyard and stirred his sleeping mate,
insisting on their return—this time as double date.
And their double-haunting in fact turned out so well,
next year they’re showing up with all the denizens of hell!!!!
Prompt words today are apparition, costume, horrific, esteem and mate. Image by Kevin Escate on Unsplash.
For Cee’s FOTD
Degrees of Possession
When a ghost is newly dead and lacking in his knowledge,
is it perhaps required of him to go to haunting college?
Does he become a boogeyman, thereby saving face
only when he’s studied hard and learned to glide with grace
up the stairs and down the stairs and way down to the basement,
polishing his scary moves and practicing debasement?
Will he then earn the esteem of every other ghoul
who passed his apprenticeship at apparition school?
Prompt words for the day are haunting, college, boogeyman, esteem and grace.
Yes, that’s me scaring my sis Patti way back when I was trying to earn my spook degree. If you can think of a better name for this poem, please suggest it. This was as good as I could do.
Click on photos to enlarge.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 