An October Horror Story, for dVerse Poets

An October Horror Story: Hollow E’en

They pound upon my door and wait outside my wall.
One climbs a tree to peer within. I hope he doesn’t fall.
I cower here within my house and pray they’ll go away.
Though I am not religious, eventually I pray.

Their little voices raise a pitch. They start to bay and howl.
There’s a flutter in my heart region, a clutching in my bowel.
I purchased Reese’s Pieces and miniature Kit Kats
just for all these masked and costumed little brats.

My motives were unselfish. The candy was for them,
for I don’t eat much candy in efforts to grow slim.
And yet that bag of Reese’s, those small Kit Kats and such
called to me from where they were sequestered in my hutch.

It started with a whisper, hissing out their wish:
“We would look so pretty laid out on a dish!”
I knew that they were evil. I knew it was a trap.
I tried hard to resist them, my hands clenched in my lap.

I turned up my computer, listening to “The Voice.”
Those candy bars would not be seen till Halloween—my choice!
My willpower was solid. No candy ruled me.
(If that were true, no kids would now be climbing up my tree.)

Yes, it is true I weakened. I listened to their nags.
I took the candy from the shelf and opened up the bags.
Their wrappers looked so pretty put out for display
In one big bowl so colorful, lying this-a-way

and that-a-way, all mixed and jumbled up together.
No danger of their melting in this cooler weather.
I put them on the table, then put them on a shelf
so I would not be tempted to have one for myself.

When people came to visit, I put them by my bed.
Lest they misunderstand and eat them all instead.
Then when I was sleeping, one tumbled off the top.
I heard it landing with a rustle and a little “plop.”

I opened up one eye and saw it lying there
just one inch from where I lay, tangled in my hair.
Its wrapper was so pretty—foiled and multi-hued.
Some evil force took over as I opened it and chewed!

This started a small avalanche of wrappers on the floor
as I ripped and stuffed & chewed & swallowed more & more & more!
This story is not pretty but has to be confessed.
My only explanation is that I was possessed.

They pound upon my door and wait outside my wall,
but I have no candy for them. No treat for them at all.
Surrounded by the wrappers, bare bowl upon my lap,
I think I’ll just ignore them and take a little nap.

I hear them spilling o’er my wall and dropping down inside.
I try to think of what to do. Consider suicide.
They’re coming in to get me. Beating down my door.
They are intent on blood-letting—the Devil’s evil spore.

I guess it’s not the worst death a gal could ever get.
I’ve heard of much worse endings than death by chocolate!

The dVerse Poets prompt is “October.

“Vitiligo” for Esther’s Writing Prompts

Vitiligo*

Mighty sol’s ubiquitous in regions that are tropical,
but when it comes to sunlight, I have news that is more topical.
I’m evidence empirical that all folks aren’t created
to lie out in the sun’s rays until their lust is sated
for skin transposed to honey brown from a whitish hue.
For folks like me, such practices simply will not do.

Unlike my lucky college chums, my best friends and my sister,
when I’m exposed to sunlight, I am more prone to blister.
I see them put their swimsuits on and take turns rubbing oil on,
anxious to go greet the sun to get their bake and boil on,
but once they’re spread out on their towels with all adjustments made,
I’ll be covered up instead, sitting in the shade.

*Vitiligo is chronic autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or color. This happens when melanocytes – skin cells that make pigment – are attacked and destroyed, causing the skin to turn a milky-white color. People with vitiligo have no natural protection from the sun.

The prompt for Esther’s Writing Prompts this week is “Shade.”

The Numbers Game #93. Please Play Along! Oct 6, 2025

Welcome to “The Numbers Game #93”. Today’s number is 215. To play along, go to your photos file folder and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find that include that number and post a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the titleThis prompt will repeat each Monday with a new number. If you want to play along, please put a link to your blog in comments below. Here are my contributions to the album.

***Click on  Photos to Enlarge and View as Gallery.**

“Let’s Dance!” Challenge

Please show me your dance photos! 

You Gotta See This!!!!, for Lens Artists Challenge #367

For some reason, I just love the photo of this rhinoceros beetle. It was crawling on my garage wall and I just liked the color mix as well as the holes in the surface of the wall that echo its spots.

I also loved this display in a beauty shop. Imagine doing anything at all with nails like these!!!!

And this is another favorite photo of mine. Taken at the Archaeological Museum in Mexico City. I took the photo from the back so it was reflected in the glass in the front which also reflected the wall behind. I love the effect.

For Lens Artists Challenge #367:Everyone should see this!

“Sparrow’s Song” for Sunday Whirl

 

Sparrow’s Song

Sparrows that stretch their wings out and flutter branch to branch
migrate for the winter to the barn at Daddy’s ranch.
I ring a bell and they emerge from their hidden places.
Some flutter to my back as I bend down to tie my laces.
I stretch my arm to spread their seed, then try to stand real still
as they execute crash landings to land and  eat their fill.
Others fidget up above, lining the barn’s high beam,
like substitutes awaiting their chance to join the team.
Ferrets  slinking through the hay , their teeth as sharp as lances
keep close watch on wings and beaks, waiting for their chances
to pounce on unsuspecting birds, so memories once sweet
given darker endings, may mean nostalgia’s defeat.

Word menu for the Sunday Whirl this week is: sparrows bell migrate emerge flutter still stretch slinking memories branches fidgeting crash

In Honor of World Animal Day!!!

Sunday Stills wants us to post photos in honor of world animal day~!!

Lazy Morning

Nice lazy morning after painting the sculpture in the lot down below to lie in the hammock with a good book (and by the end with all three dogs)   until……

Quetzalcoatl–2 1/2 Hours Later.

Believe it or not, it took me 2 1/2 hours to paint the green scales on the other side of the neck, the snout and the gold coil. That said, I was able to finish before the sun came up over the house and trees and I met a neighbor, his grandchild and daughter-in-law as well as a passerby with pup!  Here are their photos:

(I promise I didn’t paint the shoes!!!!)

For Cellpic Sunday

Quetzalcoatl Gets a Paint Job (For Cellpic Sunday)

Click on photos to enlarge.

I have been painting my “Plumed Serpent” Sculpture in the lower garden in between bursts of rain and too-hot sunny periods.  I hired someone to paint the body. I’ve been working on the head, which is still in process. I’ll do the plumed tail next. For some reason, I have identified with Quetzalcoatl since I first moved to Mexico. It is a sculpture of him that spews water into my pool and this huge sculpture winds its way across the lower lot. He was my project during the Covid isolation period. The head is of carved stone..purchased in Tonala. The tail I designed with Isidro and he carved it. The body I designed and Jose formed of concrete. I had a branding iron made to press the scales into the concrete. Once I’ve painted the head and tail, I’ll decide whether the body will stay as is or have another layer of paint added. May run out of energy by then…Forgottenman insisted wisely suggested¹ I share this “in process.”

Quetzalcoatl means “Feathered Serpent” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. The name combines “quetzal” (brightly colored bird) and “coatl” (snake), symbolizing the deity’s dual nature, which represents a connection between the earth and the sky. Quetzalcoatl was a major deity in many Mesoamerican cultures, including the Maya and Aztec, and was believed to have a role in the creation of the world and humanity. His image as a feathered serpent reflects a blend of the divine, celestial nature of the bird, and the grounded, earthly nature of the serpent, symbolizing wisdom, life, and fertility.
(From the World History Encyclopedia)

I’m going down to do some more painting before the sun comes up. I’ll be back with a post of what this lot looked like before I started this project…..

Go HERE to see the results of today’s painting.

For Cellpic Sunday

¹ Unauthorized edit by ForgottenMan