October is the magic month in Autumn, when nature paints trees with a chromatic brush, creating magical landscapes that all too soon shed their skins in anticipation of winter.

Porches are soon decorated by colorful displays of Indian Corn, Squash, and Jac-o-lanterns. The smell of pumpkin and walnut pie fills the air on longer nights. Fireplaces are lit and hot chocolate and hot cider start greeting those in the northern climes.

Relish these days that will soon come to an end on that Eldritch night when candy is traded to ghouls and demons to placate their savage hungers…

October Dawns

by Michael H. Hanson

October dawns with morning frost

and calico cloaking the trees

while t-shirts and swim suits are tossed

and lawns get blanketed in leaves.

Indian Summer makes its stand,

a fatalistic, warming breath

reclaiming soporific land,

a chore-filled, brief busy respite.

Our stomachs growl for pumpkin pies

made from the jack-o-lantern’s girth

and every night the chimney sighs

as hickory perfumes the hearth.

October ends All Hallows Eve

with tricks, and mirth, and bagged candy.

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Dark and Scary Autumn poems can be found in the dark fantasy poetry collection:

“DARK PARCHMENTS: Midnight Curses And Verses” by Michael H. Hanson

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“Halloween” – painting by Lizzy Rainey

“Halloween Dare” – painting by Tom Shropshire