Halloween Poetry Prompt: Never Too Old For …

“Is there a point when we get too old for Halloween?” Hadley asked me one afternoon while I was placing two large tin pumpkins on our piano top. Hadley was sitting at the piano, her fingers paused above the keys, curved and ready to play, but waiting. She was working on the song A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman.

I thought about the wooden ghost by our front door. He’s holding a sign that requests, “More candy, please.” I thought about the scarecrow sitting on a stack of hay on our front porch. There are pumpkins lined up in a row down the center of our dining room table, and on the mantle of our fireplace I have pumpkin-spiced candles in almost every room of our home.

I thought of this year’s Halloween costume — the one with the shiny pink leggings, florescent green leg warmers, and matching jelly bracelets. So many dreams of merging Madonna and Tiffany together will come true for me on Halloween night.

“No,” I told Hadley. “I don’t believe there is a time when we’re too old for Halloween.”

Satisfied, Hadley gave me a nod, and turned toward the music.

Ours is a family of faith, so I feel a tad confessional admitting that I love Halloween as much as I do, but no other holiday celebrates, and quite frankly, accepts my active imagination as much as Halloween does. “I see your dreams of being a ballerina,” Halloween says, “Go on and get it, girl. Put on that tulle. See if you can fit into your daughter’s ballet slippers.” Or, “I know those scratching leaves on the sidewalk and that early setting sun that makes the sky orange and blue and black faster than you can get home is making way for thoughts that haunt you. What stories can you come up with from the darkening night?”

I don’t believe I’ll ever get too old for Halloween because I’m never too old to be afraid, and while that sounds like a negative thing, being afraid allows me to play pretend. Fear makes room for my imagination. It gives me a chance to make believe — a phrase I adore, because it is active. I am the one who gets to put on the top hat, step into the three-ring circus of my mind, and conduct the music to the millions of dreams and fears I have.

I never want to be too old for that.

Try It

For this week’s prompt, consider beginning your poem like this: “Never too old for … ” and going from there. Maybe you’re never too old for sorting candy on the living room floor after a night of trick-or-treating. Maybe you’re never too old for spiced cider and hayrides, bonfires, and spooky stories. Maybe you’re never too old for the yearly surprise of the leaves’ last gasp and their color before they fall onto the ground. Whatever it is, write a poem celebrating all that you’re never too old for.

Featured Poem

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here’s one from Richard Maxson that we enjoyed:

I Am Not One Who Fears the Night

I am not one who fears the night;
It is in darkness I began;
It hones the edges of my sight.

I’m told it is the ghoul’s delight;
and though I’ve walked there in the rain,
I am not one who fears the night.

How well its sable scrim makes bright
The stars in the empyrean.
It hones the edges of my sight,

To find the silent night bird’s flight.
Though wild thoughts run as wild thoughts can,
I am not one who fears the night.

Its muted hues inspire in spite
of days advantage, days bright span.
It hones the edges of my sight.

What evening gives me I ghostwrite,
Moon’s midnight lake, the owl’s wingspan.
I am not one who fears the night.
It hones the edges of my sight.

—Richard Maxson

Photo by Noriaka Tanaka, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Callie Feyen, author of The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

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I have been a fan of Callie Feyen’s writing for quite some time but I finished this book in almost one sitting. You do not need to be a teacher to have instant admiration for her honesty, vulnerability, and true dedication to her students. She uses her own personal storytelling as the tool to teach one of the greatest stories of our time creating an instant connection to her students as well as to you the reader. If you have ever been in 8th grade, fallen in love, had a best friend, or loved reading, you will love this book. As the mother of an 8th grader, my other genuine hope is that my son will one day have a teacher as gifted as Callie. – Celena Roldan

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Callie Feyen

Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

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