The chair is comfortable, the book is long
The night is dark, the moon looks wrong
The wind does howl, the rain does pour
There's something knocking at my door.

I clutch my book and hold it tight
Ignore that sound with all my might
It's very late on Halloween
A night when ghosts and ghouls are seen.

The noise continues, it will not stop
I drop my book, a loud ker-plop
As it falls upon the floor
A little ghost steps through my door

I lean forward in my chair
My guest floats lightly in mid-air
I stare at it, it stares at me
It means no harm, it's plain to see.

It whimpers softly, "My name is Tommy.
Could you help me find my Mommy?"
He's such a dear, he is so sweet
I jump immediately to my feet.

I take three steps, maybe four
Another ghost comes through my door
The mother ghost she grabs her son
And disappears at the count of one.

Author Bio

Joni has spent all her life daydreaming in Texas. A few years ago, a friend encouraged her to put some of her dreams on paper. What resulted was a series of strange stories. Several of which have been published. She feels indebted to the new friends she's made on-line and in local writer's groups who have been very instrumental in her growth as an author.

Over the last year and a half, she has become very active in many literary organizations and ventures. She is the Editor-In-Chief of Twilight Times, an established e-zine dedicated to speculative fiction. She recently served as the Graphic Arts Editor for Dark Star Publications. She also served as the Managing Editor of Twilight Times Books, the forerunner of Dark Star Publications, a subsidiary of Starlight Writers Publications. She holds several positions within Romance Foretold, includubg web spinner and magistrate of the new Poetry Shire. She is the Vice-President of the Denton Writer's League. Most recently, she accepted the job as moderator for the Poetry Forum at Inkspot.

As a writer, she had some small successes. The first few chapters of her novel WHITE FIRE have been running as a serial in Nightstalkers: Land of Eternal Night starting with the March 1998 issue. Her poem THE FAIRIE RING was in the Late August issue of Eternity. One of her short stories, THE KNIGHT'S QUEST, was in an issue of the on-line magazine, TimeWinder and another AH MOM! won first place in Romance Foretold's Halloween Fiction Contest. She has had seven other poems appear in several other publications in print and on the net.

• Back to Main page. 


• Back to Contents. 


• Read "Rhythmic Circle" - a poem.