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This poem by Wendell Smith haunts me:

A Poem of Horrors for All Hallows Eve

Wendell Smith

How can I get

lighthearted and write

A horrible poem for

Halloween night;

write a poem of horrors

for All Hallows Eve

or go trick and treating

with Em and with Steve

when I am surrounded

by the news and what’s worse

my heart’s growin’ too heavy

to throw off this curse

of a total awareness

that has been (God?) given

to all who think they might

have love in this livin’.

So this holiday gives us

hob goblins and trolls

homeopathic prescriptions

for what darkens our souls

quick tastes of fake horrors

faux bones, blood and potions

so we can briefly avoid

all our life’s real emotions.

— Wendell Smith

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