I knock on the door,
who will be there?
Out comes a ghost —
a frightful scare!
The ghost has got me
in its spell —
no treats for me,
and what’s that smell?
The ghost’s cooking me
in a witch’s brew —
with eye of newt
and rats’ tails too!
The water’s bubbling
under my chin,
and the ghost gets a snake
and tips it in!
Oh no, oh no —
what can I do?
But it’s only a dream,
it’s all over — “Phew…”
Image from Pixabay
The shops are awash with spooky gear,
It must be nearing that time of the year.
When folks living in the northern hemisphere
Stock up on sweet treats but not reindeer!
Halloween is closing in fast,
That ancient Celtic festival from the past.
Samhain for the purist at heart,
Celebrating a healthy harvest is just the start.
Creating Jack O’Lanterns and dressing in disguise,
This keeps the old traditions very much alive.
But remember, when it is all said and done,
Halloween is a thin veil where you could become undone!
Image from Pixabay
Up in the mountains in the cold and snow,
lives Nettie the Yeti, so the stories go.
Nettie is tall and covered in fur
and lives in a cave with others like her.
Nettie’s big face has very wide eyes
and she has hairy feet of a very large size.
Nettie has lived in the mountains forever,
she’s kept out of sight and learned to be clever.
Though hunters keep trying to track Nettie down,
she knows how to hide where she’ll never be found.
It’s best to leave Yeti’s alone in the snow,
they might not be real –
but you just never know.
Image from Pixabay
This grevillea inflorescence
is like a hairy Huntsman spider
lying up-side-down.
Delicate pink appendages,
fuzzed and curled,
make awkward question marks
from those posing bendy legs.
Will the next hairy Huntsman then,
seem a fuzzy flower
with curvy pistil tubes?
Perhaps…
if it is dead…
But, maybe that’s too sad to say.
It must be fun to run that way,
‘BOO!’
Teacher’s Note: Often called “Spider Flowers”, Grevilleas are Australian natives. The pistil is the curving part of the grevillea made up of style and stigma. Inflorescence is a fancy word for flower.
Image from Pixabay
Whatever you are up to this month, there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s HALLOWEEN on 31st October. Make your poems SWEET or SCARY!
Send your poetic inspirations to Linda Davidson:
Date prompts include:
Picture Prompt:
Artwork: MR CHIRRUP THE CRICKET AND HIS CHOIR by Cindy Wider
And did they sing in Gaza?
And did they dance in Israel?
And did they harvest in Vietnam?
And did they love life in Cambodia?
And did Koreans yearn for freedom?
And did they live without fear in Germany?
And did they pursue a better life in Russia?
And did Armenians pray for their survival?
And did we all love peace?
And did we close our eyes to tyranny?
And will we ever do it again …?
Image from Pexels
International Day of Peace. https://internationaldayofpeace.org
2026 Theme: Invest in Peace – For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day
Teacher’s note: Anaphora is a literary device where a word or phrase is repeated at the start of successive lines or sentences. By repeating the sequence of words, students can add emphasis to their poetry. Poets.org states: “Not only can anaphora create a driving rhythm by the recurrence of the same sound, it can also intensify the emotion of the poem.”
As brown as a block of milk chocolate,
Eyes yellow as egg yolks,
A coat of curls feels soft to the touch,
My Billy Joe who I love so much.
A tail that wags with great delight,
A dog so bright
That he can almost read my mind,
Knows when it’s walking time,
Without a word, just a glance
And off we go
With love so simple, so pure,
Filled with trust,
My best friend, my confidant,
He doesn’t judge or criticize,
He is always there by my side.
What words can totally express
The relationship between man and dog?
Image supplied by Toni Newell
Shake off the shackles of rhyme and pen your next poem with a pattern of ANAPHORA, where a word or expression is repeated at the beginning of each line, or the beginning of each verse.
The kangaroo and emu
are Aussie through and through.
No other country has them,
and the whole world knows that’s true.
Is that why they’re our symbols,
because they’re ours alone?
No — kangaroos and emus can’t
move backwards, it’s well known!
That’s why they’re on our coat of arms,
the fact can’t be ignored:
they symbolise a nation
that’s always moving forward.
Read more about the Australian Coat of Arms here:
https://kids.kiddle.co/Coat_of_arms_of_Australia
Image from Pixabay
Bobby the Bilby is cute as can be.
He’s very shy and hides from me.
With long ears and a pointy nose
He builds his burrow with clawed toes.
I want to pat his soft grey fur.
Down a burrow he dashes in a blur.
Should I wait in the pale moonlight,
or come back again tomorrow night?
National Bilby Day is the 13th September 2026
Image from Save the Bilby fund
