Lacroix's All-Night Halloween Open Mic
by Anitra L. Freeman

Vampires sing blues
        dark blackwater blues
        bitter backstreet blues
        lost spring sun forever
        own all there is of midnight
        blues

Zombies play Cajun
        way down swamp Cajun
        boiled shrimp red beer Cajun
        hot fiddle dance home Louisiana Cajun
        Zombie meltdown Cajun

Wolfmen rap
    Wolfmen rant
      Wolfmen do word sound jazz
        Wolfmen chew the language
                and spit blood
      Wolfmen with glowing eyes
      run rap all around the room
      and hold their prey entranced

Wisps of grief and ancient rage
   whisper woe and wrong
      with haunting echoes in the reverb

Toad things blow jazz riffs on warped horns
   that bend into one reality and out another
Sirens sing torch songs
Purple-haired punk banshees
   wail
Pookahs dance
   and no-one dances with them

And the only horror in the whole mad night
   that froze my bones
was the one moment standing at the mic
   my mind went blank