Prompt #296 – What Does Your Costume Say about You?

Dressing up in costumes (called ”fancy dress” in England) has a long history. Masked balls and other fancy dress occasions were popular long before the custom of wearing costumes on Halloween came into popular practice. Halloween costumes as we know them today were first recorded as late as 1895 in Scotland with little evidence of the practice in England, Ireland, or the US before 1900. Early Halloween costumes took their character from Halloween’s pagan and Gothic sensibilities and were worn mainly by children. These costumes were made at home from found materials, but by the 1930s, several companies began to manufacture Halloween costumes for sale in stores, and trick or treating became popular. Today, Halloween costumes are worn by children and adults, all of whom enjoy the fun of becoming something or someone other than who they really are.

From the time I was little, I enjoyed Halloween costumes for the pure fun of them but also because, in costume, I was able to step out of myself and into another personality. 

Although, traditionally, Halloween costumes are monsters, vampires, zombies, and other ghoulish creatures, many more are based on characters and figures from history, movies, and everyday life. In a very real sense, costumes are communication devices—they say something about the people who wear them.

Suggestions:

1. Write a poem about a costume “experience” that you  had as a child or as an adult.

2. Write a poem about a costume that you’d love to wear. What’s the “character” you’d like to “become” on Halloween night? Why and how would a particular costume take you out of yourself and into a new personality?

3. Write a poem about the costume you would never want to wear and why.

4. Write a poem in which you “create” a bizarre costume that makes no reasonable sense—a fantasy costume. You might try a prose poem for this one (and be sure to include a little surreal imagery).

5. Write a poem about the animal you’d like to dress up as and “become” on Halloween night.

6. Write a poem about a historical person whom you’d like to “become” on Halloween. 

7. Write a poem about a costume party that you attended.

8. If you were going to dress up as a famous poet, which poet would you choose? In your poem, tell why you would choose that poet and describe your costume. For example, if you were to dress up as William Carlos Williams, your costume would include such things as latex gloves, a white lab coat, a stethoscope, eyeglasses, and brushed-back hair. For William Shakespeare, you’d need an Elizabethan-style outfit, beard, etc.

Tips:

1. Remember as you write to let your poem take you where it wants to go, and to be aware of meanings other than the obvious.

2. Link the end of the poem to the beginning but not overtly—and don’t over-write.

3.  Write beyond the last line, then go back and find the last line hidden in what you’ve written.

4.  Try (minimal) repetition from another part of the poem—sometimes this can work very well.

5.  Use more one-syllable words than multi-syllable words in your last couple of lines (think in terms of strong verbs and no superfluous language).

Examples:

"Halloween Party" by Kenn Nesbitt

It’s Halloween by Jack Prelutsky

It’s Halloween! It’s Halloween!
The moon is full and bright
And we shall see what can’t be seen
On any other night.

Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,
Grinning goblins fighting duels,
Werewolves rising from their tombs,
Witches on their magic brooms.

In masks and gowns
we haunt the street
And knock on doors
for trick or treat.

Tonight we are the king and queen,
For oh tonight it’s Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Prompt #295 – Mysterious Monsters

(Yep, that's me in my zombie costume.)

It’s been more than a decade since zombies began their hungry shuffle into the mainstream of popular culture; and, in the monster aristocracy, zombies are currently the reigning royals. Since establishing the Carriage House Poetry Series in 1998, I’ve tried to come up with ideas (especially on occasions like our 19th anniversary this year) that will be fun for both performers and audiences, and something other than the typical poetry reading fare.

In the spirit of the season, and with Halloween coming soon, the Carriage House Series presented a program of ghoulishly good poetry, costumes, and celebration on October 17th. We called the program “Poets’ Apocalypse,” as a play on the current popularity of zombies and the term “Zombie Apocalypse.”

The slideshow from YouTube is below!

It’s amazing how fascinated we humans are with things that “go bump in the night.” As far as literature goes, books by Stephen King delight us, and Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems draw us to their characters and situations in the most appealingly spine-chilling ways. Given a choice between such written works and ballerina and bunny stories, the choice for many of us is obvious.

It may be that, because there’s so much real fear in our personal and global worlds, we find comfort of a sort in reading “scary” books and poems about other peoples’ terror. Or, maybe, we find it encouraging to “see” how weaker protagonists outsmart their terrifying antagonists. Whatever the reason, fictional monsters of one sort or another (from Stephen King’s vampire to Poe's raven, as well as the monsters we fear within ourselves) excite the imagination and continue to draw us to them. 

There are undoubtedly dozens of psychological explanations for our fascination with monsters, but I like to think that scary creatures are just plain fun. With that in mind, this week’s challenge is to write a poem about a monster.

Guidelines:

1. Make up a monster or personalize one that’s commonly known. (Keep in mind that “monsters” may also be emotional or psychological.)

2. Describe your monster—not too much detail but enough to create a solid visual for your readers.

3. Tell how a "psychological monster" manifests itself in your life.

4. Create a poem about a "monster" fear that haunts or taunts you (based on things such as fear of the dark or fear of being alone).

5. Think about how you might be (or have been) a monster to someone, and write about it.

6. Write about an unexplained monster: the Yeti, Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, the Chupacabra, the Loogaroo (or any other regional creature that’s known in local lore).

7. Write about how someone is a monster to you, or write about how something in your life is monstrous.

8.  If “serious” monsters aren’t your cup of tea, you might want to try a humorous approach. If you do, be monstrously funny.

Tips:

1. The first line of your poem should be inviting, shocking, or curious enough to lure readers in.

2. Your poem should astonish readers in some way: insights, perceptions, imagery, description. 

3. You should include at least one image or figure of speech that makes your readers gasp. 

4. There should be an element of mystery and understatement in your poem—don't give everything away.

5. Avoid the usual pitfalls: 
 

·  writing in the passive voice, 

·  over-using adjectives, 

·  "ing" endings, 

·   too many prepositional phrases.

 Examples: 

 "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti

 "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe

 

 

Prompt #294 – Autumn & Halloween

 

It’s that time of year again! Autumn and Halloween! Time for colorful leaves, pumpkins, a special crispness in the air, as well as ghosts, goblins, ghouls, a touch of suspense, a bit of mystery, and poems to fit the occasion! Located on the calendar between autumn and winter, harvest and scarcity, Halloween is associated with early festivals and traditions, especially the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced SAH-win). Samhain, the Celtic New Year, was celebrated on November 1st.

Because Halloween falls on the 31^st and is coming up soon, I thought I’d post two Halloween prompts for you to enjoy this week and next.

BTW, did you know that the poet John Keats was born on Halloween in 1795? His last poem is an untitled, eight-line fragment that seems chillingly well-suited to Halloween:

This living hand, now warm and capable

Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold

And in the icy silence of the tomb,

So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights

That thou would wish thine own heart dry of blood

So in my veins red life might stream again,

And thou be conscience-calmed—see here it is—

I hold it towards you.

It’s widely believed that Halloween was influenced by western European harvest festivals with roots in earlier traditions, especially the Celtic Samhain (pronounced SAH-win). Samhain, the Celtic New Year, was celebrated on November 1st. According to the American Folklife Center at the U.S. Library of Congress, the Celts gathered around bonfires lit to honor the dead. At Samhain, the Celts believed that the wall between worlds was at its thinnest and that the ghosts of the dead could re-enter the material world to mingle with the living. At Samhain, the Celts sacrificed animals and wore costumes (most probably animal skins). They also wore masks or colored their faces to confuse faeries, demons, and human spirits that were thought to walk among them.

As Christianity began to replace earlier religions, the feast of All Saint’s was moved to November 1st, making the night before All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween. Originally celebrated on May 13th from 609 AD, the date of All Saints’ was changed by Pope Gregory IV in 835 AD to November 1st, the same day as Samhain. All Saints’ was followed by All Souls’ Day on November 2nd and, by the end of the 12th century, these days together became Holy Days of Obligation—days in the Church’s calendar set aside to honor the saints and to pray for the souls of the recently departed. Related traditions included groups of poor people and children who went ”souling” from door to door on All Saints’/All Souls’ to beg for traditional soul cakes (mentioned by Shakespeare in The Two Gentleman of Verona when Speed accuses his master of puling [whimpering] like a beggar at Hallowmas). In return for the soul cakes, the beggars promised to pray for the households’ dead. “Souling” is very likely the older tradition from which today’s trick or treating evolved. Click Here for a Soul Cake Recipe

Halloween history notwithstanding, how about writing  a poem that “remembers” an autumn or Halloween time in your life? That is, a “historical” poem based on your own history.

Guidelines:

1. Touch base with an autumn or Halloween memory, think in terms of a narrative poem (one that tells a story), and let the memory guide your poem. 

2. Be sure to evoke a mood or tone that’s compatible with your subject.

3. Imagine that you are an object of Halloween lawn décor. What would you be? Why would you choose to be that?

4. Autumn may also be an alternative subject that powers your poem. Create imagery that expresses autumn.

Tips:

1. Avoid overuse of adjectives and adverbs.

2. Create a tone or mood that appropriate to your subject. Remember that the verbs you choose will give your poem momentum and a sense of trajectory.

3. As you develop your poem, move away from the obvious and work toward deeper meanings.

4. Work to engage your readers by using precise imagery and by layering meaning through similes, metaphors, and sound value.

Examples:

“Haunted Houses” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/haunted-houses

“Mr. Macklin’s Jack O’Lantern”  by David McCord

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/mr-macklins-jack-olantern

“Theme in Yellow” by Carl Sandburg

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/theme-yellow

And … by way of sharing, here’s a Halloween prose poem from my book, A Lightness, a Thirst, Or Nothing at All.

Halloween

Trick-or-treaters come to the door repeatedly—little ones early, older kids into the night until she runs out of candy and turns off the outside lights. The wall between worlds is thin (aura over aura—stars flicker and flinch). The woman buttons her coat, checks her reflection in the mirror, and stands cheek to glass (eye on her own eye, its abstract edge). She leaves the house (empty house that we all become)—shadows shaped to the trees, crows in the high branches.

All Are Welcome!