Having haloweened the moon
He pumpkin-headed out of town
Wanting to ghost those friends
Who thought him stupid enough
To witchify the lawn
Planted by the new neighbours
So there he was at a strange bar
Treating himself
To beer after beer after beer
© gillena cox 2026
Night of Fright And Fantasy
There was a moon that night We wanted to walk under its light. See the glimmer as the ripples over the sea distorted it, like a photo edited. But we were not alone in this desire.
For the dead were settling in under their mud roof and something was shuffling overhead. Chains, it sounded like chains dragged across muffling grassland.
Near Halloween, the mind works in overtime fantasizing: Headless horsemen, witches, grinning pumpkins. All this and more, that had been stored on the subconsious plane. Regurgitating fantasy and fury, horror and mayhem. So much can a mind encounter.
REVISIT
20231012
20211012
.20201012
© gillena cox 2026
To answer questions posed in comments i had edited this post to add noted and hyperlinks
Hosay is a solemn festival about 2 martyrs. observed by the muslims in T&T. The festival exyends to the streets with art and music. Both muslims and non muslims look forward to the street art the drumming and food with family and friends. Moon sightings deceide the dates for the festival
Tower darkening on.
And now from heaven’s height,
Night showering upon,
The sleepy village site.
To what questions.
The closed window shutters,
Tight and safe from,
The torrents.
The moon's hidden play.
A game of bright here,
And gone to coy behind,
A shadow of cloudy sphere.
Is the night her playground.
To hide and seek the poetry,
Of a writer's craft,
Or his fantasy.
© gillena cox 2026
The line "Tower darkening on. And now from heaven’s height," - is from A Thunderstorm by Archibald Lampman (1861-1899)
Night accompanies with a slice of solace
A cup of charcoal sky simmers with a chameleon moon
How i luv your spooky accusations
Ghosts, goblins headless horsemen
Wandering through the heads of poets and dreamers
Night trails on the hem of my skirt
The lullabys of a doting mother
The bedtime stories children crave
Night carries it own agenda of wants and wishes
That nusiance no one appreciates is night
When the night is too long for a herd of cattle or sheep
Counted in infinite anguish
Night is the tortorous slave master
Admonishing his serfs to the toil of numbering
Oh night who has conceived thee
To darkness and the gesture of an afterthought of stars?
Who knows the mind of a melon, sweet or mild or tart? When the storm has spent its fury and the earthquake stops to stare at man's humiliation. When bombs drop no more, when chatter is not the noise of teeth in a winter's spell. And angels wings fold like a bud unfurled.
dewdrops on a leaf
in dawn's silence; earlier
is when it happens
© gillena cox 2026
with my eyes i trace
a pattern of stars at dawn -
praise for a new day/gc
tears blur one small boy’s efforts
to outline big sheriff’s badge/db
a yellow alert -
the way colours shape our
weather and warnings/gc
night rains streak the glass -
she runs the red turns too quick
on slick, empty road/db
office noises left behind
returning to home alone/gc
an owl keeps steady
while headlights veer and scatter
through the storm-soaked dark/db
Collaboration Note: The Rengay is a short form created by Gary Gay
'A Play of Lights' is a Rengay between Gillena Cox - St James, Trinidad & David (ben Alexander) Bogomolny - Jerusalem, Israel.
Start date: September 15th 2025
End date: September 17th 2025
Written: via email
Here in Trinidad and Tobago🇹🇹 we celebrate 100 days of Christmas starting 23rd Sepember to 25th December; hosted by Sweet 101.1 FM Radio, where our local Christmas music is featured
ENJOY THE MUSIC
We Went To See Them Dance
They have silenced us,
With their craft of excellence,
These dancers,
Bending, stretching, cavorting.
They have silenced us,
With the years of discipline,
They have endured,
To get to tonight.
They have silenced us,
Yes, the audience is in hush,
Not even my cough,
Dares to sound out.
They have silenced us,
And we are still stilled,
When an applause blooms,
But not from us, the audience.
Then a tiny voice ask,
"Who's clapping?"
"I dont see anyone clapping"
"Sound effects",
The other tiny voice whispers.
© gillena cox 2025
Next sunrise, there he was
Bending through the morning wafts
Of breezes scullying through
Fronds of banana and papaya
Plants stationed to his garden
Over seconds he would speak
We meet again like new clouds
Mapping an unburdened sky
No coincidence of mine more like
A universe hurl of broken planets
Then suddenly like a mountain sweet
As petrichor after the rain
He says in the most tender way
Let's be friends
I felt like a rocket launched
This Apple
Honestly, if i eat this apple,
My love will appear right here,
In front of me;
Like syrup of maple,
Our kisses can span the rigors of time,
Like clouds under azure sky
Like ripples over ocean skin
Live Anthony and Cleopatra
Honestly! Honestly!
© gillena cox 2025
Heat Tableau
Why is it today?
my entire soul,
being a-ruffle,
as the rain leaves us,
to scorch and to burn.
victim of climate
changing its wary
ways; hotter than hot,
rainier than wet
days, of yesteryears.
the noisy fan whirrs,
i scribe words to soothe
my new discomfort,
of climate days changed,
and yet still changing,
oh what a challenge.
© gillena cox 2024
Quadrille Summersault
The circus is coming
She will be going
What better event to enjoy
Now school vacation is here
Tickets already bought
Expectations riding high
Therre'll be lions and tigers
And rings of fire
The clowns will certainly
Do their summersaults
The circus is coming
