History-or-Treat, R. Standley

History-or-Treat

By Ryan Standley


Trick-or-treating in America originates with the Fantastics, a bunch of dirt-poor, drunken, cross-dressing hooligans who paraded behind the last of the retreating British troops after the Revolutionary War. Their parading continued annually on Thanksgiving.

The Fantastics strutted through towns all over the east coast, begged at wealthy homes and businesses, harassed women and shouted political propaganda.

Bringing up the rear of a Fantastics’ parade, were a group of children known as Ragamuffins. Ragamuffins dressed in costumes, carried baskets, begged from door to door, assaulted the property of those less giving.

Soon city officials feared the youth were being corrupted. Trick-or-treating was displaced to Halloween, so group leaders could accentuate the religious, puritan folklore of Thanksgiving. Child welfare committees formed rival clubs, offered alternative parades, and promoted a new Thanksgiving custom… football. By 1910 the Fantastics movement lost popularity and disappeared, while one Ragamuffin tradition holds strong.

Deck, G.Roush

Deck

By Georgina Roush

My husband takes weeks to fix the porch
He removes one board at a time
It's dangerous walking down of course
And the mailman doesn't speak kind
But he drills and hammers and screws the porch
And he saws and he paints and he primes
It's nice that he cares to keep up the porch
But I think he should focus on me of course
Because he is the muse of mine

Balloon, M. Kreas

Balloon

By Melvin Kreas

last weekend, a beautiful late summer day, I was outside just tooling around in the yard with my toddler son. my son rushed over to me suddenly laughing and carrying a bouquet of helium balloons. "Where did these come from?" I asked. my son just grinned and punched the balloons. there were three balloons. they were blue and black and one said Happy 60th Birthday. the other two said Happy 30th. I laughed along with my son. these balloons had escaped some birthday party. maybe from miles away. but they decided to find us here. I couldn't just throw them in the garbage. I cut their ribbons off and they were light enough to fly high again. and they disappeared over the horizon. maybe returning home to their party. "Bye Bye!" my son waved at the balloons.

Busy Heavens, P. Louten

Busy Heavens

By Paul Louten

A fly buzzes by my ear
The screen is broken
What is he flying around
Looking for food?
For a way out?
He's so busy
And loud
If his wings bother my ears
He must be completely deaf
But he keeps buzzing
He's so busy

The Rabbit, T. Gordon

The Rabbit

By Tina Gordon

There is a little old porcelain statue of a white rabbit that sits on my windowsill and stares at me when I am trying to write. "What are you looking at, bunny?" I ask. And the rabbit says,"You! It's you I'm looking at, you numbskull! Why don't you turn me around so I can look out the window instead of staring at your dumb ass?" I laugh and say, "Sucks to be a statue, huh?" And then I go back to my writing in triumph,"Ha, ha! I am in control of something!"

Sunset, H. Nand

Sunset

By Henry Nand

With August breeze I feel a sense of change that's coming through,
The warm hot days are closing and there's nothing we can do.
Hit the beach one more time,
Take the sun in while you can.
Cause pretty soon the leaves will fall,
And you will lose your tan.
You've worked on it all summer but don't worry, winter's short.
Pretty soon the snow will melt, baseball will be the sport.
And then we open up into the heat just like before.
The season change. The simple things,
Are what I do adore.

Oh Please, B.Rotten

Oh Please

by Big Rotten

Give me a break
You call this a blog?
This is all a bunch of crap
That's right you heard me, crap.
And you call this a poem?
I sure don't.
This is crap too.
It's all crap.
That's all it is.
Seriously.