photo by me

I had to photograph something from Halloween for this week’s assignment. Then I had to write a specific poetry form about Halloween and put it with the photograph.

I chose to photograph a Halloween decoration and to write the pantoum.

The pantoum is a rare form of poetry similar to a villanelle.

It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next.

ABAB
BCBC
CACA

There can be as many stanzas as the writer wishes. However the ending stanza repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza and repeats the first and third lines of the first stanza. The first line of the poem is the last line of the poem.

The pantoum is originally Malaysian, but was adapted through French and is infrequently found in English.

My (not-so-good) version:

On a cold and dark All-hallow-even,
the harvest has begun and summer is ended,
the ghouls and goblins do hearken,
children are dressed in costumes resplendent.

The harvest has begun and summer is ended,
the moon hangs heavily in the crisp autumn sky,
children are dressed in costumes resplendent,
while tree limbs wave and black crows cry.

The moon hangs heavily in the crisp autumn sky,
the ghouls and goblins do hearken,
while tree limbs wave and black crows cry,
On a cold and dark All-hallow-even.

Happy Halloween!