Halloween Mannequins

Halloween Mannequins

As Halloween approached each year
All eyes went to one house.
It always had the best displays
That any home could boast.

The owner was a loner/hermit
Who with no one did converse.
But his displays were grander every year,
Most horrid and diverse.

The townsfolk were excited
To see this Halloween display,
But when it was unveiled this year
The scene caused much dismay.

The theme – Vlad the Impaler.
In the yard were wooden stakes.
Impaled on each were mannequins –
Hyper-realistic fakes.

Plastic bodies pierced and bloodied,
Gruesome scarecrows one and all.
Many loved it, but some complained,
So town officials came to call.

They knocked upon the old front door,
No answer… knock, knock, knock!
They rang the doorbell – nothing still,
So in the yard, they went to look.

The craftsmanship was stunning,
Realistic but grotesque.
The mannequins just drew them close,
Their posture arabesque.

A putrid smell assailed them,
Flies and bugs buzzed all around.
As they approached the horrid dolls
Nobody made a sound.

One inspector reached to touch a doll –
The soft cold feel of human skin!
Hands suddenly cupped over mouths
Suppressing gasps within.

These weren’t mannequins, but bodies
Of people not long slain,
Victims of a serial killer.
From gory details, I’ll refrain.

The town went into mourning
For the people who were killed,
Though the Halloween Impaler
From their midst is missing still.

But, on another Halloween
Some years and miles away,
A lonely old man cracked a smile
As he set up his display.

by John Hansen © 2022

For more works by this author see John Hansen on The Creative Exiles.
https://www.creativeexiles.com/author/jodah/

You can also find great works by John Hansen with the pen name of Jodah on HubPages.
https://hubpages.com/@jodah

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John Hansen

Longtime poet but not in the traditional technical sense. I enjoy rhyme but like to experiment and dabble in many different forms and maybe even make up some of my own. There is always a message or lesson I want to promote through my writing, for that reason, my poetry generally shies away from the abstract and obscure.

After a lot of procrastinating I have finally self-published my first eBook of poetry "I Laughed a Smile" at Lulu.com.Now I find myself branching out and experimenting with short fiction.

I have also been fortunate to have two poems chosen to be made into songs and recorded. The first "On the Road to Kingdom Come" by Al Wordlaw, and the second, "If I Could Write a Love Poem" by award-winning Israeli/British singer Tally Koren.

I am also finding my services increasingly in demand as a freelance writer and I have ghost-written the text for a number of children's books and educational tutorials.

It has taken me many years of searching and restlessness to realise that my life's passion is to write. It saddens me that I wasted so many years not devoting to that, but thinking positively, the experiences gained over those years are now wonderful material for my stories and poems.

I want to try to bring a new focus on poetry and try to make it appealing to a new generation of young people and those who thought they never liked or understood it before.

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Latest posts by John Hansen (see all)

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