Why the Jack-O-Lantern Grins
Aurelio Rico Lopez III

There is a story often told
Of a wicked witch, cruel and old
Who'd fly to the fields late at night
And stomp on pumpkins left and right.
Why she did it, no one knows;
That's just how the old story goes.
Poor pumpkins didn't stand a chance
When the witch did her little dance.
Then one night, the wicked witch tripped,
Fell on a pumpkin and broke her hip.
Broken bone, lesson learned,
She limped away never to return.
Pumpkin chunks on her hair and skin,
That's why the Jack-O-Lantern grins.

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Aurelio Rico Lopez III hails from Iloilo City, Philippines. A devoted fan of the macabre and a self-diagnosed scribble junkie, his poems have been featured in the like of Mythic Delirium, The Horror Express, Dark Animus, Aoife’s Kiss, Sybil’s Garage, and The Horror Carousel. His chapbooks ODDITIES (co-authored by Kristine Ong Muslim) and JOLTS are available from Sam’s Dot Publishing.

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