Pumpkin Inn

By a pumpkin field there’s an ancient inn,
where the wind blows cold and pumpkins grin,

and locals are distracted from their ale and rum
to stare whenever strangers come.

Those who choose to stay for the night
will wish they hadn’t, with hindsight.

Wrapped in sweaty nightclothes’ trammel,
one ear listening for the keyhole’s rattle,

the naïve and gullible groan and sigh
at the chilling look in a landlord’s eye,

the icy hand and the sinister warning
to stay wide awake until the morning

and hail a coach to another staging post
without the reputation of a resident ghost.

Kim M. Russell, 1st October 2024

Image by Getty Images for Unsplash+

It’s Tuesday and time for Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub, where Merril is welcoming us to harvest and haunting.  She says we can take the themes of harvest or haunted literally or use them metaphorically in any way we wish. “Harvest grain, organs, fish, or emotions; imagine the grim reaper. Write about something that haunts you, regret, a long-ago love, thoughts of someone who has died, or actual ghosts. Explore a haunted harvest.”

She says that the themes are not October-specific and we may choose to combine them, as Carl Sandburg does in ‘Under the Harvest Moon’. Or we may choose to write about one or the other. Another example she gives us is Siegfried Sassoon’s poem ‘Haunted’, about a man in a haunted wood.

I love a spooky poem!

43 thoughts on “Pumpkin Inn”

  3. I knew I was in for a feast when I read the two first lines! Absolutely brilliant…and was not surprised to see your comment about how much you enjoyed spooky poetry…it really showed. Wonderful, truly.

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  10. A truly “haunting” poem, Kim—as ever, you have a way of painting scenes with both the deftest of touches (“wrapped in sweaty nightclothes’ trammel,” “the icy hand and sinister warning”) and a keen ear for sound (love the strong rhymes and fluid iambs in this one). Thanks for sharing!

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