Halloween: New Poems (Book Review)

Halloween: New Poems, Edited by Al Sarrantonio (Cemetery Dance Publications, 2010)

The Halloween Season is fast approaching, and what better way to ready for it than to read this delightful anthology put together by renowned October scribe Al Sarrantonio (Horrorween, Hallows Eve, Halloweenland).  Halloween: New Poems collects 41 (i.e. 10 + 31) pieces of original work by 19 different luminaries in the horror genre (and also features stellar artwork by Alan Clark and Keith Minion).  Some of the standout poems are Steve Rasnic Tem's "How to Play Dead," which kicks off the book with an eerie narrative about a glutinous doorstep beggar, and Elizabeth Massie's "Spider's Night Out," which  presents the holiday from the titular insect's point of view.  Tom Piccirilli's "Phantom Pains" is a haunting tale of tragedy and remorse, and James A. Moore's "Autumn" wonderfully matches the bereft mood of the speaker to the season's dying landscape.  Sarrantonio himself weighs in with a trio of amusing poems whose concise lines read like a cross between Ray Bradbury and Emily Dickinson.  Perhaps the highlight of the book, though, is the inclusion of the first-ever published verse by Joe R. Lansdale.  Lansdale's distinctive style and darkly comedic worldview are on display in a half-dozen entries, including the gloriously grisly "Observing Nature on Halloween Night."

Halloween: New Poems features a surprising number of pieces that employ quick-fire rhymes, which at times give the contents of the book a sing-song quality.  But Bradley Denton, whose "Cap'n Hook (A Tale of the Prairie)" forms the longest (and most visceral) selection in the anthology, seems wryly self-aware of the limerick-like quality of its stanzas.  Take, for example, the following excerpt, in which a group of teenage farmhands lust after the boss's daughter:

"Now wait just a minute,"
piped up both of the Bobs.
"I saw her this morning
"when we came for the job.

"She was there by the barn
"as we got in the truck.
She was watchin' and grinnin'
"like she wanted to--"

"Hold on now!" snapped Jimmy.
"Y'all can just stop it!
"We're here to throw bales,
"not to spread lies and gossip!"


At $40, the price of the trade hardcover will no doubt be steep for the non-collector--especially considering that the slim volume can be read in about an hour.  At the same time, though, this is the type of book that you'll eagerly pull off your shelf year after year; such assured treasuring makes Halloween: New Poems a worthy investment in October festiveness.