Friday, October 31, 2008

Celebrating Samhain, Jack o'Lanterns

I planted this cucurbitum
down in the veggie bed,
I harvested and cured him
and hollowed out his head.

We'll call him Jack o'Lanterns
(though he's really rouge d'Etampes),
and now his brains to soup are turned,
his skull into a lamp.

Now veils between the worlds are thin
and ghosts and demons seen,
and Jack leers out with glowing grin,
says 'Happy Halloween!'

14 comments:

Julia said...

Happy Halloween!! A super spooky poem, Caroline says.

Did you carve out your pumpkin's insides to nearly the skin to get that beautiful translucence (and the soup)?

Lucy said...

Oh, I hope I don't give her nightmares!

Yes, I scooped him out with a potato peeler and a spoon, which seem the best tools for the job. He was a beautiful orange colour, but being so thin skinned will probably go all floppy and weird, so perhaps I'll document his degradation!

herhimnbryn said...

Wooooooooooooooooooooo!

Anonymous said...

Fanatastic! Happy Halloween to you both!

Anonymous said...

Oops, anonymous I'm not!

Zhoen said...

Did you roast his brains with a little salt?

I do love this.

HLiza said...

Happy haloween!

Catalyst said...

Happy Halloween, Lucy and Tom.

Is Molly frightened of Jack?

vicki johnson said...

Oh! i love Jack-O's ear!

robinstarfish said...

Love the ear especially!

Lucy said...

Thanks all. I hope you all had a suitably spooky time.

Even Tom, who sees my need to make a pumpkin light at Halloween as a somewhat pointless bit of whimsy, was rather taken with his ears, That's the shape the cutter of the potato peeper makes left to its own devices. Molly was slghtly taken aback by him!

Unknown said...

I'm not sure about the Halloween fuss and I don't blame Molly for being taken aback, but I do think I like these pumpkin lanterns, for what they are, regardless of their raison d'etre. Your lantern has a vaguely benign appearance when you look at it long enough. Its cheering to know that its innards have been put to good use in a soup. A pretty poem to go with it.You should sing it by the fireside to keep the witches off.

Bee said...

I do like the way you match pictures to words! Halloween is a rather sad thing in England, but we couldn't do without our jack o'lanterns! My little daughter carved up three . . . "happy" or "scary" she says before carving.

Anonymous said...

Ours are not so thin-skinned, though they also burn with thought. I like your light verse, Lucy! And I had pumpkin soup yesterday.