My daughter always got so excited decorating our house for Halloween when she was young. She loved spooky stories and movies…and Halloween as much as she loved Christmas. When I was teaching elementary school, I really enjoyed reading scary stories to my students as well as sharing and writing Halloween poems with them. Since Halloween is just a few days away, I thought I’d post one of my original witch poems and a collaborative class poem written by my second grade students a few years before I left the classroom.
THERE WAS A WITCH
There was a witch who liked to race
Her supersonic broom through space.
At six o’clock last Friday night
She blasted off at speed of light.
She whizzed past Mercury and Mars…
Then headed off toward distant stars.
Across the galaxy she sped,
A black peaked helmet on her head.
An interstellar traveler, she
Explored the Milky Way with glee.
She chased swift comets here and there.
She watched bright supernovae flare.
She zipped through clouds of cosmic dust…
A witch bewitched by wanderlust.
There was a witch, I’m sad to say,
Flew near a big black hole one day.
It sucked her in just like a bean.
You won’t see HER on Halloween!
© Elaine Magliaro
Things to Do If You Are a Witch
By the students of Mrs. Magliaro’s Class (circa 1990’s)
Wake up at midnight.
Fly around the moon
on your magic broom.
Zoom around a haunted house.
Swoop out of the dark sky
and scare children.
Have a huge purple wart
on the tip of your long, pointy nose
and skin as green as grass.
Wear a tall black hat
pointed as a thumbtack.
Make yucky snake skin potions
in your kettle.
Cast nasty spells on princes
and turn them into toads.
Eat vulture leg stew, bat wings,
and frog eyes for lunch.
Throw bat noses into the air
and catch them in your mouth.
Go to sleep in a graveyard
before the sun comes up.
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Daphne’s New Broom
