What does it say when "Peter Peter pumpkin eater" is the only thing that comes to mind when I think about pumpkin poetry? I mean please, can a nursery rhyme be any more offensive than that one? Pumpkin shell indeed.

Luckily, there are other pumpkin rhymes and I'm hoping one of them will get stuck in my head soon and rid me of Peter and his patriarchal ways.

I wouldn't mind if Getting Close got stuck in my head. The image of the pumpkin "blowing" is both troubling and amusing.

It's getting close
Only two months to go
I'm scared to death
My pumpkin might blow

How about Pumpkin Haiku. Or something classic like The Pumpkin by John Greenleaf Whittier. Oh wait, this is better, an acrostic from Miss Rumphius Effect.

Picture a witch
Ugly and mean.
My brother's an alien,
Purple and green.
Kids dress in costume,
It's that time of year--
Now it's Halloween.

That's so much better than Peter and the darn pumpkin shell.

~~Denise
Flamingo House Happenings