Ray Bradbury has had a greater influence on my writing than any other author, and The Halloween Tree in particular has had an enormous impact on my life. Not by far his most popular or well known work, to be sure, but definitely the one closest to my heart. Below are a set of tanka I wrote in homage to that story. Hope you enjoy.

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"The Ravine"

Beneath clawed branches
midnight's shadowed castoffs lurk
the stuff of legends
untouched by pale crescent moon
hungry to be known again

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"The House"

Black stone, gargoyle crowned
timbers hewn from Samhain's grove.
Lift good Marley's jaw:
Come, come in, the knocker bids
the longest night awaits us!

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"The Tree"

Jack-o-lanterns grin
a thousand times a thousand
bright constellations
burning in the sky, witness
to the death of summer's king