For the month of October Listing Toward Forty is Listing Toward Halloween, featuring a variety of Halloween posts including many by guest authors. This poem is by James Michael Shoberg.
The Clickety Man
It’s Halloween, Mama, so please don’t be mad.
You found me, quite safe, so instead, let’s be glad.
And now that we’re home and I’m warm in my fleece,
May I have my candy, if only a piece?
You brought me back early from tricks and from treats,
Don’t punish me more by forbidding me sweets.
“Why did I stray off as we went down the lane?”
That Clickety Man called, “Let’s play by the train.”
What “Clickety Man?” Oh, the one by the tracks,
Where clickety wheels make their clickety-clacks.
And the clickety bones that poke through his pants,
Play clickety beats, for his clickety dance.
The October wind blows his skin off in flakes,
While whistling a tune through the holes that it makes.
But the skeleton grin that lies on his face,
Is not truly happy, he feels out of place.
First, struck by an engine that came in a rush,
His unburied body decayed in the brush.
And that means old Clickety’s without a bed,
No box, and no hole, and no stone overhead.
So I said, “Come with me, nobody will mind.”
But as not to scare you, he followed behind.
It’s Halloween, Mama, so please don’t be mad.
Just you, me, and Clickety won’t be all bad.
You shouldn’t be giggling! Don’t laugh anymore!
That clickety knock is my friend at the door!
James Michael Shoberg has many years of diverse experience in theatre. He is an award-winning actor and playwright, as well as a designer, director. His writing credits include numerous fringe plays and collections of both monologues and poems. James is also the Co-Executive Producer/Artistic Director/Resident Playwright of The Rage of the Stage Players fringe theatre company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now entering its thirteenth season. In 2011, he acquired the permission of the filmmakers known as The Butcher Brothers, and Lionsgate Films, to write, produce, and direct a world-premiere stage adaptation of their award-winning independent horror film, The Hamiltons. In October 2013, they will premiere his next play, a steampunk stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray. James’ unique brand of twisted theatre has already attracted attention both nationally and internationally, and he is always seeking new venues for future productions of his work. His most recent side project is a currently untitled book of horror poetry for young adults, of which this premiering piece will be a part.
All Halloween posts from this series can be found here, including
Be notified of future posts in this series by typing your email address in the box below and clicking create subscription. (Opt out at any time.)
Kim Z. Dale 
One thought on “The Clickety Man: A Halloween poem”