Skip to main content

Poetry Friday: More Spooktober Poems

I'm writing a poem for every day of October, playing with poems inspired by a list of Inktober prompts written in senryu, haiku, and tanka poetic forms. You can read the first week's worth of my Spooktober poems, and see my prompt list, in this post. 

I've had a lot of fun with the prompts this week! 


Spooktober Poem 9: Galaxy Wish upon a star? I’ve got bigger dreams than that. They’re galaxy-sized! © 2021, Elisabeth Norton
Spooktober Poem 10: Beetle Summer night tail-lights Trace magic runes in mid-air. You call us fireflies, But the name doesn’t matter. We know who we are: beetles. © 2021, Elisabeth Norton
Spooktober Poem 11: Hat Must I wear a hat, Sharp and pointy, black as cats, To be a real witch? © 2021, Elisabeth Norton
Spooktober Poem 12: Wand One wave of my wand will turn you into a frog. Oops! Ribbit! Backwards. © 2021, Elisabeth Norton
Spooktober Poem 13: Potion I was only gone A minute or three — It really wasn’t that long! The next thing I knew There was green smoke and lightning And my room was full of frogs! © 2021, Elisabeth Norton
Spooktober Poem 14: Spellbook Flipping through pages, There must be a spell here for Finishing homework! © 2021, Elisabeth Norton
Spooktober Poem 15: Snake Line snakes down the street. Rumor says, this is the house with the best candy. © 2021, Elisabeth Norton
I've got some publishing news to share today! I'm thrilled to have two poems included in the 10.10 Poetry Anthology: Celebrating 10 in 10 Different Ways, which includes poems from many Poetry Friday participants. 

Book Cover: Wee Words for Wee Ones presents 10.10 Poetry Anthology: celebrating 10 in 10 different ways, edited and compiled by Bridget Magee



You can get a peek inside the anthology and order your own copy here. 

The editor of the anthology, Bridget Magee, is our host for Poetry Friday this week. Hop on over to her blog to congratulate her on 10 years of blogging and the publication of this wonderful anthology, and to get links to the rest of today's Poetry Friday poems!



Labels:

Comments

  1. Linda MitchellOctober 15, 2021 at 11:32 AM

    Elizabeth! These are fabulous. I fell in love with Galaxy...and then Beetle and all of them. What a wonderful collection you have. Great word play and positive vibe in every one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethOctober 20, 2021 at 1:52 PM

      Thanks Linda! I'm having a lot of fun playing with these prompts - I'm glad that's coming through in the poems.

      Delete
  2. Bridget MageeOctober 15, 2021 at 2:26 PM

    You are building a most enjoyable group of poems here, Elisabeth! Wand made me 'hoppy'. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethOctober 20, 2021 at 1:52 PM

      Thanks Bridget! (I think you are the punniest person I know - you always make me :-)

      Delete
  3. Janice ScullyOctober 15, 2021 at 3:37 PM

    These are all clever and sooo halloween. The last one reminded me of the house on our street that no one missed as a kid. There were trays of candy apples.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Linda BOctober 15, 2021 at 10:22 PM

    I like every one, Elisabeth. You have included sparks of laughter in each. I imagine that there are school kids everywhere who would love the "Spellbook" & I adore the surprise in that final one, "Snake". congrats on your poems. I have the anthology & am enjoying every bit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alan j WrightOctober 16, 2021 at 6:09 AM

    I really enjoyed your collection of short poems Elisabeth. They possess a compacted energy that is palpable. Particularly enjoyed your opening poem Galaxy. it makes a powerful statement of intent within a short few lines. Look forward to reading your words in the new anthology- a space we share.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethOctober 20, 2021 at 1:54 PM

      Thanks Alan! I'm happy to have poems alongside you and so many other Poetry Friday poets.

      Delete
  6. Mary LeeOctober 16, 2021 at 1:54 PM

    My favorite was BEETLE until you surprised me with that snake! Fun!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethOctober 20, 2021 at 1:54 PM

      Thanks Mary Lee! I'm trying to pack little twists into the endings of as many of the poems as I can.

      Delete
  7. Denise KrebsOctober 16, 2021 at 3:42 PM

    I loved the line of trick-or-treaters snaking around the neighborhood. Super! And here is to having galaxy-sized wishes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethOctober 20, 2021 at 1:55 PM

      Thanks Denise! Imagine what our world could be if a generation of kids felt free to have wishes that big!

      Delete
  8. mbhmaineOctober 16, 2021 at 11:48 PM

    These are wonderful. I especially enjoyed 14 and 15. I was expecting something quite different with your title, Snake, and thoroughly enjoyed having my expectations upended. Congrats on having your poems in Bridget's anthology!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethOctober 20, 2021 at 1:56 PM

      Thanks! I'm enjoying playing with alternate meanings and interpretations of the prompts.

      Delete
  9. JoneOctober 17, 2021 at 8:30 PM

    I love the tan on snake. Congrats on your two poems in Bridget's book.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments! Comment moderation is active. Your comments will be posted after they have been reviewed. Thank you for your patience!

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Friday: Story Cubes Poems "Plot Problems"

 Welcome to Poetry Friday! Our host this week is Mary Lee. She's shared a wonderful poem of her own, one by Sandra Cisneros, a video and more in her post. You can find all that poetic goodness and links to the other participating poets over here on her blog. My Story Cubes poetry prompt this week had me a little stumped at first. In addition to trying to write fast, I'm also challenging myself to keep the order of the dice in my poem. So if the cauldron comes first, I'm trying to make it first thing I mention. Either I like multi-dimensional chess, or I like making things challenging for myself. Or maybe both! Here are this week's prompts: And here is my poem. Plot Problems First I drew a cauldron Bubbling full of poisoned brew. Then I drew a hungry hero Now I don’t know what to do. hmmm . . . .  I know how to fix this! Draw one big foot, then two. Run fast, my big foot hero! Go find some barbecue. © 2025, Elisabeth Norton, all rights reserved What about you? Have you
19 comments
Read more

Poetry Friday: Welcome to the Party!

There is so much happening in our world right now, it can be hard to take it all in. In these times, more than ever, I am grateful for poetry.  Sometimes I write it.  Sometimes I have no words of my own, so I read and reflect on the poetic words of others.  Either way, poetry helps me process my thoughts and feelings about the world and my experiences in it. My poetic offering today is a poem I wrote earlier this spring, on a rare day when my husband had to go to the office for an in-person meeting and I took our usual lunchtime walk alone.  I am a creature of habit, but on that day I challenged myself to break routine and change direction, and this poem was the result. Today I go against the grain, turn left  Instead of right, Let the path take me away from home Instead of towards it. Today I go against the grain, go up the slope I usually walk down. Climbing uses different muscles Than descent. Today I go with the grain, walk downstream Instead of up, Walk with the flow, Instead of a
23 comments
Read more

Poetry Friday: Neurodiversity Poems

In our family, we do a lot of thinking about thinking, because we are all neurodiverse (autism and ADHD). We're often engaged in discussions about how our neurodiversity influences the way we experience the world. From how we socialize to how we organize ourselves to complete tasks, our neurodiversity is a factor in everything we do and every experience we have. This week I decided to try to use poetry to express the experience of having ADHD. Although ADHD, like autism, can be characterized by the ability to hyperfocus on a topic or task for an extended period of time, the characteristic that is most commonly associated with ADHD is difficulty in sustaining attention .  In my attempt to express this latter aspect of the ADHD experience I ended up with two poems, both of which use the same metaphor. One is an almost-haiku (haiku-esque?) that's missing a syllable on the middle line, one is free verse. I'd love to know if you have a preference - let me know in the comments!
25 comments
Read more