A Thought Too Late For Halloween

I am not entertained by ghouls,
or ghosts, or things without names
that don't know how to be quiet at night.

I find better reasons for fear
from being subject to jealousy
in confined spaces where, too late,
I realise that I am the target of something
all too human, and all too possessive,
for me to easily escape it.

This jealousy can happen all year round
so Hallowe'en 'celebrations'
are mostly seasonal vexations.

The most engaging experience
of this jealousy I ever had, second hand,
was seeing 'The Exorcist' at the cinema,
and less for the reason you might guess.

The cinema was full to standing room only
at the back, with young men from West Belfast
who loudly cheered The Devil, on the screen,
when, through Regan, he audibly taunted the priest
before the priest finally threw himself out of the window
from the height of the fifteenth floor apartment.

I had never seen such an anti-clerical mob before
I had no idea what they could be jealous for.