Halloween Cheer (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Based on an experience I had this Halloween, where I realized just how much fun it was to even just be out and about for errands on that special occasion. It makes me think that maybe I should get dressed up next year. The connections that people can make based

The Unknown (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: A small experiment with “the unknown.“] Waiting just around the corner to pounce everywhere In all things found within each flicker out of the corner of one eye It is there and gone again between moonbeams and bursts of sunshine reaching out as if for warmth and recognition– like a

Journal Entry #31 – Halloween Festivities

Ah, Halloween is tomorrow. Mine will be pretty quiet, honestly, with plans to bring my mom to one of her physical therapy appointments and perhaps going to eat out together afterwards. But there is a wonderful crispness in the air that is restful, and memories of loved ones have been on my mind even more

A Clean Ghost Story

Retold by Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Based on an actual story published around Halloween in the student newspaper at the college I attended as an undergraduate and graduate student. I did try to save the actual newspaper where it appeared, but that source material has since been misplaced and lost to time. It clearly had

Woman in White (A Haiku)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: I have heard quite a few versions of a ghost story where a “woman in white” will ask people for rides home, only for the drivers to realize it was directly to a cemetery. In certain retellings, the mysterious woman will have been known in some way to the driver,

Spirited Halloween Echoes (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Every year around this time, Halloween stores pop up all over the place. Many of them, I’ve noticed, seem to occupy businesses that recently closed and are due to have new owners take them over the same space shortly. Especially for Spirit Halloween stores. It just struck me as interesting.]

A Halloween Tree (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Has anyone read Ray Bradbury’s story, The Halloween Tree, or seen the animated film adaptation of it with Leonard Nimoy? I would definitely recommend it, especially the special, since the focus is on how Halloween as a holiday has developed over the centuries.] Have you seenthe Halloween Tree where pumpkins

Blue Moon Parade (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: I remember that a few years ago, we actually had a blue moon during October. That was quite a treat. Perhaps we’ll enjoy another special cosmic event soon.] A blue moon rose among the ribbons of dark cloud      which filled the skies that late Halloween evening            . .

A Fanciful Spirit (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: I know it’s still a bit early, but the spooky season is on the way, and I’m getting excited. It feels nice to indulge in some lighthearted creepiness after the very real fright of having to evacuate from my home the other day due to a wildfire. But now a

The Festival of the Masks (A Poem)

By Joyce Jacobo [Author’s Note: Perhaps this piece is premature, but I’m already looking forward to the spooky holiday coming next month. Are you?] Have you ever heard    about the Festival of Masks   that strange celebration        said to take place             among the tombstones         every midnight in late October                when