Halloween

The trick or treaters are singing Christmas songs. 

'It saves us from coming round twice,'

the tallest of them explains, wearing a Santa hat

and a skeleton onesie.

'Homework really starts piling up in December.

If you really want to see something terrifying

have a look at my to-do list. We have to make

Victorian doll houses, and maths isn’t as fun

as it used to be. It’s starting to be a real struggle.’

It’s Halloween which means it’s dark

and our cars will break down soon.

Instead of Maltesers I hand out tins of de-icer.

Give these to your parents, I tell them

‘and make sure they have a blanket in their boot.’

I explain to the trick or treaters

I bought two big tubs of Haribo

but it’s been a hard week,

not just work, other things too,

I’m really sorry but there’s none left.

Have you ever had those caramel digestives,

I ask them? That’s what I normally go for

when things get too much.

I am dressed as Edward Scissorhands

I’ve typed in ‘horror’ into the Netflix search engine

but I won’t watch anything.  I just scroll and scroll

and settle on the same old shows I always watch.