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.
For Cee’s FOTD
Tryst
The smell of his aftershave, his looks and wit,
the chemistry, passion, charisma and fit
of her putative lover had gained such renown
that his legend was spoken all over the town.
Through her bedroom window he climbed after dark
as she stilled her dad’s dogs–their bite and their bark.
With scraps of her dinner she lured them away
as her lover sneaked into the bedroom where they
would make love to the music that swelled on the breeze
of her imagination, there on her knees
playing out that wild scene in her hopes and her dreams,
through want of reality, stretched to extremes.
No passion, no music, no lover’s embrace,
her only caresses, the moon on her face
as it slowly rises, extending its beams,
and creeps through the window to enter her dreams.
Prompts today are the bedroom window, music, wit, putative and smell.
Click on photos to enlarge and read captions.
There doesn’t seem to be the frenzy of activity in the Pantheons (graveyards) that there is usually at this time. Workers are clearing away the mud from the slides and some of the rubble. Oscar cut the tall weeds away from my adopted graves but could not clear the small plot next to it as it is filled with huge black and orange winged wasps or bees, a picture of which I tried to capture in a photo here, but they are so fast that I wasn’t too successful. On the 28th, I’ll take broom, mop and bucket and clean off the graves. My friend Leslie and a number of friends want to come help make offerings on October 31 to avoid the rush on Nov. 1 and 2. For earlier posts about these graves go HERE and HERE. To see how the graves looked before Oscar and Yolanda cleared them away, go HERE.
Why this compulsion regarding DOD? Because I have lived in Mexico for 20 years and that compulsion is infectious.What better way to remember one’s departed loved ones than to make a celebration of it?
I’ve already forgotten the name of this newest plant in my garden, but it keeps on producing beautiful blooms. No time to look it up now, but I’ll identify it when I get home this afternoon.
Click on photos to enlarge.
This is one of the pieces I made for a Day of the Dead show at Jesus Lopez Vega’s Gallery in Ajijic opening on November 2, 2021 on Rio Zula, one block south of the Carretera. This piece is 20 inches high and 12 inches wide. It includes a miniature I made of an actual book entitled “Noche de Muerto en Michoacan, Muestratio Portico” that is sitting on the chair. Other offerings mentioned below are on the table, along with a photo of the dear departed.
Little Altars Everywhere
There’s no pleasing the likes of a departed soul.
Take for instance the corpses out for a stroll
on Day of the Dead with their garb all in shreds
when other departed remain in their beds.
They think they’re entitled to dead bread and beer,
flowers and candles and when you come near,
they’ll say they’re entitled to sweets and tamales.
Once a year this is how they get their jollies.
All over the city, we bring them their due,
and when it comes your turn, we will bring it to you!
Prompt words today are corpse, title, pleasing, garb and city.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 