Hallowe’en next week, when ghosts, goblins and other strange visions abound. Really weird encounters occur on the street, or at the door, at this time of year and leave one pondering …
SPECTRAL CINDERS
surprised by time 
ghosts pick fairy-tale slippers
out of midnight
wait on ladders
for the unwary to pass beneath
and catch an hour’s witching
before stallions turn to rats
and the prince comes
with a turned horseshoe
his princess, riches to rags
spectral in cinders 
wails at her sisters
who drift the staircase
looking for shoes tossed
before midnight struck them
dead on the ballroom floor
phantoms shake the clock’s
black minutes and join hands
in a clap of magic
first published in Whistling Shade
To Bethlehem: ‘This little book is delightful, full of … poems on this timeless subject. … the most fun is the little prose vignettes of the common people in the Christ-child story. The slave who looks after the wise men’s camels, or the overworked maid at the inn who has to fetch water for the birth, and many more. A lovely gift for the reader on your Christmas list!’ Rosalind Adams. Available from Amazon and Kindle.
1960willowtree 