in the land of Uh Maybe
I think about buying myself
a new hat
I mean maybe I do
but then I realize
I have no head
that instead I have
the biggest pumpkin from
the Porkshound County Fair
on my shoulders
and let me tell you
the biggest pumpkin is
quite a weight on these shoulders
I mean think of the children
I mean maybe think of the children
their pert cookie-scented faces tilted towards me
their fingers the bones of chickens
pressed into my fleshy forehead that has grown
miles beyond orange

this must be my cross to bear
my melon of penance
my seasonal symbol of sacrifice
is the thought that forms
in the seeds of my pulpy brain
in the warty dome that has replaced my head
and even though I’ve this red ribbon
says what I got above my shoulders
is the biggest darn thing
in the Porkshound County Fair Big Pumpkin Contest
what I’m thinking is
and I got to think fast before
the flickering cranial candle in my leguminous pate
burns out
I mean maybe this is the thought that occurs in my tottering
pumpkin mind
it being big but not necessarily capacious
’cause it seems to me that
if I weren’t so big
if I were
just like the other pumpkins
without arms and legs
without the desire for haberdashery of any kind
indeed if there was nothing but mash beneath my peduncle
maybe it would occur to me that
I’d be scooped for pie
then stuck on a porch
a single emotion carved for always
in the shadow of
my impudent face

what was that?
oh yeah
you can come to our house
we’re giving out candy