Costume

by Heather Wallace

Costume is a collection of poetry in a classic, yet revived style, invoking the cadence of Dr. Seuss meets The Cremation of Sam McGee. It is a menagerie of familiarly false faces that reveal more than they conceal. At heart we are exhibitionists, flashing our plastic fears like frat-boy pranks. We can poke a stick at the executioners, black hats and death itself in seasonal hubris, but it’s the beast we forget to be afraid of that dresses us when the November hangover wakes – the unmasked, rotting pumpkin head that sickens the nibbling squirrels, quite against nature’s wish. In the end, the villains and green men may be our only salvation, putting us out of our cooked, garnished, and plugged-in misery.

42 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2021