Fall Poetry Contest

The winning entry in our Fall Poetry Contest 

on the theme of Halloween.

HALLOWEEN - 1950's style

We paw and rummage through the costume box -

accumulation of cast-off shoes and clothes.

My mother pulls out paper grocery bags

and makes us listen to the Halloween rules.

Our greedy hands atwitch with sugar futures

we know exactly what she has to say,

before a-ringing neighbors' chimes and doorbells

to Mister Stollmeiers's Pharmacy we go,

a UNICEF collection table where

the rows of half-pint boxes with a slot

assigned by name to lines of costumed children

who beg for pennies for a worthy cause.

We shake the box like make-shift castanet.

A dish of pennies alongside candy bowl

on tables next to doors that open wide

to Barnard five who know to stick together.

The bags and boxes heavy with their treasure.

A long walk back to drug store lies ahead.

At eight o'clock, the neighbors' porches dark,

we scuff along in shoes too small or big.

Mary Barnard