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Gerald Locklin
all the children are gleeful,
except for the ragamuffin whose oval face is shocked,
and her sister, prettier, who is asleep on her shoulder.
all the other children have large open mouths.
her own small mouth is turned down like that occasional
jack-o-lantern one sees.
her eyes are turned down at the corners.
she has caught her breath like a fluttering sparrow.
child, i have seen it too.
it will not go away.
always the others will be wide-mouthed with hysteria
or asleep on our shoulders.
we will go through life looking like pumpkins.
the other kids will say, "how come you always look like a pumpkin?"
and someday even the prettier person asleep on our shoulder
That ugly pumpkin-coloured house
That I saw from the train--
I have wondered about the minds of the people inside
But I wonder in vain.
Did they choose that paint?
Or perhaps it was brought them to buy--
Oh I hope now they’ve got it all done that they like it--
And don’t just have to try.
Oh I hope that it shines there for them
In their sunny green fields
Like a lantern at night--
And I hope that on dull rainy days they both say to each other
“Don’t it look nice and bright?”
Oh I think I shall never forget them
In their new-painted house!
I SPOT the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon ;
I am a jack-o'-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.