Tonight’s Menu
by Jeannie E. Roberts

It’s All Hallows’ Eve and I’ll be your host.
Costumes are welcome, especially fright!
Tonight’s menu includes crickets on toast.

The porch witch will greet you as will the ghost.
Be forewarned of bats and vampires in flight.
It’s All Hallows’ Eve and I’ll be your host.

While guests bob for apples, I’ll stand my post,
meet trick-or-treaters, add sweets to their night.
Tonight’s menu includes crickets on toast.

We’ll join to recall the ones we miss most,
hold a séance, honor those out of sight.
It’s All Hallows’ Eve and I’ll be your host.

We’ll tell chilling stories, an eerie dose,
as the bonfire burns with spirited light.
Tonight’s menu includes crickets on toast.

A good party indeed, if I may boast,
one to remember with joy and delight!
It’s All Hallows’ Eve and I’ll by your host.
Tonight’s menu includes crickets on toast.

First published in Volume One's Local Lit (titled "A Halloween Villanelle")
It also appears in The Ethereal Effect–A Collection of Villanelles (Kelsay Books, 2022).



 

Return to: