Hello dVerse Poets! This is Merril from Yesterday and Today, and in my part of the world (southern New Jersey), we’re in the early part of autumn, where it’s often warm during the day and cooler at night, and summer’s humidity is gone—or it was until this past week.

Tomorrow night Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) begins. I am not a religious person, but I love the family dinner and gathering we will have later in the week. It seems like a harvest celebration to me. In other parts of the world, it may be celebrated differently, but my family eats apples dipped in honey, pumpkin soup, and a round challah, among other things. We drink wine, and I usually make an apple cake and baklava for dessert.

But I’ve also watched the days growing steadily shorter. Halloween comes at the end of the October, and Thanksgiving is near the end of November. That is the end of the harvest season. The farmers’ markets that stay open in autumn usually close at Thanksgiving.

So, you may have guessed the theme(s) for today—harvest and haunting. These themes are not October-specific, so it doesn’t matter where you live or what season it is. You may choose to combine the themes as Carl Sandburg does in Under the Harvest Moon. Or you may choose to write about one or the other.

Siegfried Sassoon’s poem “Haunted” is about a man in a haunted wood. It has a Twilight Zone feel to me. It was written in 1917. Sassoon had served in the war and had been wounded in battle; he spoke out against the war, and then was put into forced convalescence, then sent to battle again. I imagine he was haunted by what he had seen and experienced in the trenches, battlefields, and hospitals.

You can take the themes of harvest or haunted literally or use them metaphorically in any way you wish. Harvest grain, organs, fish, or emotions; imagine the grim reaper with a scythe. Write about something that haunts you, regret, a long-ago love, thoughts of someone who has died, or actual ghosts. Explore a haunted harvest.

You may also use the painting above, “The Harvest Moon” by Samuel Palmer as inspiration.

There is no form requirement for this prompt. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Add the link to the Linky, and then read and comment on others’ poems.