I guess the number of days generally works out odd on one side when you try to slice the year in half, since 365 is an odd number, BUT… most peeps celebrate April 30th as the halfway point to Halloween! HUZZAH! We’re getting closer.

Did we have a Leap Day this year? I forget… in any case, there was a LOT of buzz online about Half-o-ween yesterday, and I forgot to mention it here, though I did post about it on Threads and Instagram.

To mark the occasion, perhaps a day late, I am sharing with y’all an edited and beautified copy of my poem “Alchemical Components of October” from Shadow Flow: Seasons of Love & Loss. I even copied it into a cute little graphic in Canva.

For accessibility sake, here it is typed out:

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Alchemical Components of October

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Cinnamon-spiced apple pie

and butter-rich chocolate chip

cookies. Citrus-scented dusting

rags rich with lemon oil. Crisp

parchment of old books whose

pages crinkle as you turn them.

Pluvial chill of autumn rain

on fallen leaves, spilling over

your nape, tracing a cold finger

down your spine ’til you shiver

as if affrighted. The long, blue

shadows cast by carven angels

guarding the lanes of the dead–

these are the alchemical components

that summon the spirit of October.

by: Michelle Engel