Halloween Poetry

Happy Halloween! What are you up to today? I'm busy making shrunken heads out of old apples for a party on Saturday and putting the last few touches on to my costume. It's such a good excuse to have some fun!

I wanted to post something suitably spooky and decided upon...Tim Burton! I love watching his films this time of year, but I wondered how many of you knew he had written and illustrated a book of poetry? It's very suitable reading for today, and is full of his trademark creepy, gothic fun. You can read his collection online: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy.

And here's one of the poems: Mummy Boy

He wasn't soft and pink

witha fat little tummy;

he was hard and hollow,

a little boy mummy.

"Tell us, please, Doctor,

the reason or cause,

why our gundle of joy

is just a bundle of gauze."

"My diagnosis," he said

"for better or worse,

is that your son is the result

of an old pharoah's curse."

That night they talked

of their son's odd condition-

they called him "a reject

from an archaeological expidition."

They thought of some complex

scientific explanation,

but assumed it was simple

supernatural reincarnation.

With the other young tots

he only played twice,

an ancient game of vergin sacrifice.

(But the kids ran away, saying, "You aren't very nice.")

alone and rejected, Mummy Boy wept,

then went to the cabinet

where the snack food was kept.

He wiped his wet slockets with his mummified sleeves,

and sat down to a bowl of sugar-frosted tanna leaves.

One dark, gloomy day,

from out of the fog,

appeared a little white mummy dog.

For his newfound wrapped pet,

he did many things,

like building a dog house

à la Pryimid of kings.

It was late in day-

just before dark.

Mummy Boy took his dog

for a walk in the park.

The park was empty

except for a squirrel,

and a birthday party for a Mexican girl.

The boys and girls had all started to play,

but noticed that thing that looked like a papíer mâché.

"Look its a píñata,"

said one of the boys,

"Let's crack it wide open

and get the candy and toys."

They took a baseball bat

and whacked open his head.

Mummy Boy fell to the ground;

he finally was dead.

Inside of his head

were no candy or prizes,

jast a few stray bettles

of various sizes.

public domain resource

After reading an article by Jack Zipes in The Public Domain Review I explored the site further and found that it is a beautiful resource for images, audio, film and text. For the fairy tale enthusiasts there is this page, which contains fantastic versions of Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur, Spencer's The Faerie Queene, and various collections of folk and fairy tales from around the world.

Source: Public Domain Review

Grimm Wallpapers

This is a quick feature on Corey Godby, a talented artist who has released a series of beautiful digital paintings based on Grimm and other folk tales, and has put them up for free download (or offer a donation!) on his website. You can download the wallpapers here, visit his website here, or take a look at his blog here.

LRRH by Corey Godby

Never trust a talking tree

I've just noticed that a whole load of posts I'd written and scheduled to go live have somehow vanished from Blogger, which means that I am once again behind on posting (pretty ironic considering my recent warning about how much I have to talk about, haha!) 


I think there's a lesson here about backing up my work. Alternatively, there's one about making the best out of a bad situation. Despite feeling completely ineloquent and harried right now, I'd like to apologetically go for the second option and share something positive that came out of my day: I came across a beautiful picture that shocked me, because it perfectly encapsulates a story I'm working on:

by jerry8448 @ dA

(My tree even offers a girl a flower...) I would encourage everyone to explore jerry's gallery on deviantART, the scenes he creates are magical, and the attention to nature's details is wonderful.


I think lots of people are inspired by pictures or other creative media. Personally I find them most helpful for describing landscapes or buildings, but they inspire me most when I come across something that conveys a mood or feeling very strongly. My starting point for writing is often a feeling which is then attached to a situation or character, rather than a character, place or situation that I then have to find feelings for (if that makes sense).

I recognise that this often causes problems because my plots don't move at a decent pace, or my characters don't develop enough - I just get so caught up in the feeling! But I suppose, in the end, it doesn't matter where inspiration comes from as long as everything else fits together and works well, and the end result is a good story.


But this picture could be the find of a lifetime - like he was illustrating my thoughts...