The veils between the worlds are very thin at midnight tonight. The covens gather in Salem, Mass., to form a circle and cast off the old and bring in the new.
Once, Citichild sat shivering in that circle.
Once, her chart was read by a witch.
Once the woman with the blue spiral on her cheek gathered her coven.
Once, the stars watched as the witches struggled to be one with the all.
Now, the Day of the Dead arrives, with its sugar death's heads.
Now, the race cars spin out in Zacatecas.
Now, the living huddle behind their doors and bribe the demons with sweets.
And now, Citichild begins work, her mother quits smoking (again), and the fairy princesses and beatniks, Madonnas and ghosts don their masques and go out among the people with swag bags to collect the tax of childhood.
fair warning: on block island or manhattan or in missouri, we can be a little salty
When I was about six, my mother and I stood in the backyard and watched a ring of witches on broomsticks fly around the moon. We both saw them, I swear.
ReplyDeleteOnce, she and I were on Cape Cod during a terrible hurricaine.. maybe it was the hurricaine of '56? When the eye passed over us, we heard bagpipes. She turned to me and said ( I was all of seven) "That is an ancient melody, swept up by the wind, and carried for centuries. "
She used to tell me that the local cemetery was only for pets, and that hedgehogs lived in the crypts. With a mother like that, how could I go wrong??
Every Halloween I buy candy and put it in a dish for kids who never come. These days, they go to Mainstreet, or the housing developments.
It's o.k. Mother did the same thing.
She and I enjoy the thought that maybe, just maybe, one trick-or-treater will go out of their way, and visit us.
this is the night of all the nights when the headless horseman rides and children run through pale streetlights and over the moon some witch rides while under my pillow safe and sound away from all these horrors i hear a sound outside my house and I'm glad to be indoors...... this was written at the funny little girls school in a boathouse on the Connecticut coast many years ago...and I really loved what everyone had to say about All Hallows Eve...my son the younger told me he went to a costume party last night in the beantown and since he had no MONEY he put a garbage bag over himself and went as "white trash" ....my father was writing a book about witches when he died...let's just say he spent too many years with four powerful women ?
ReplyDeleteI remember that boathouse. Very well. Did we ever dream, when we sat there at sea level, that we would ever marry and give birth?
ReplyDeleteWillie would, and obviously did, look good wearing trash.
Get this kid to Ralph Lauren. Where he can howl at the moon. With impunity.
And your Dad? He'd be very proud.
Okay Claudia, I don't know if you can help me, but I think maybe you will understand. I see all this crazy blog spam everywhere (I see some here) and I'm wondering if you know how we can stop it. I just have a site about surfing video, and I can't even go find information on surfing video without having to filter through all the junk. My blog gets totally bombarded with this rediculously spam. I hope you're not as frustrated as my self. Anyway, good luck with your blog, and let me know if you have any ideas...
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Howdy Claudia,
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You got a great thing going... by friend.