Laurel Anderson
Small Town, Swing State
We do it up right for Halloween.
Pumpkins sliced with grins
glow from every porch.
Plastic skeletons dangle and clatter
in the bare branches
of ornamental dogwoods. Mothers
masked as witches stage-cackle
over Walmart cauldrons
filled with chocolate.
We do not know our children
as they make their pilgrimage
from house to house, erased
by their disguises. Dry leaves
crack beneath their feet.
Shadows of November
stripe the white silences
between our sentences.
Laurel Anderson
Lauren Camp
Tina Cane
Willa Carroll
Charles K. Carter
Donna Castañeda
T. Clear
Barbara Daniels
Merridawn Duckler
Denise Duhamel
Cal Freeman
Majda Gama
zakia henderson-brown
Jessica Jacobs
Elizabeth Kuelbs
Michael Lauchlan
Tamara J. Madison
Jennifer Martelli
Abby Minor
Trevor Moffa
Caridad Moro-Gronlier
Stephanie Niu
Katherine Page
Iain Haley Pollock
Hannah Rodabaugh
Michael Rogner
Adrie Rose
Carole Symer
Carolyne Wright