a holiday memory

A quilted,
Cotton snake.
Chasing its
Long white tail
Around a brown
Tube.
Soft to the
Touch.
It bites your
Hand and
Precedes to
Unravel.
Then stopped.
Choked.
Ripped.

Wadded up and
Stuck
Somewhere
Unpleasant.
To do the deed
You wouldn't
Do ungloved.
Then
Washed
Away for
Eternity.
Day after day.
Spinning round
And round.
Getting dizzy.
Chasing the
Bitter end, so
Far away.

Embracing
Halloween
Bodies.
Masking
Innocent
Children into
Rotten
Creatures of
Dead.
Capping
Houses like
Newly fallen
Snow.
The butt of a
Joke.
Its cardboard
Core
Transforms a
Dreamy child
Into a rock
Star.

It's given up
Its life for us.
Then to be
Swirled away by
A tornado.
Sitting around
All day.
Waiting
To be of use.
Yet we never
Give it a
Second
Thought.
Although
Where would
We be if it
Just upped
Itself and
Left?

Ashley Huck