Maybe it’s just me

But doesn’t Halloween smell like burning wood

Those scratchy princess dresses we insisted on wearing

Because for one night we got to be something magical

Too bad you could never see them under our puffer coats

We walked through the streets shivering and shaking

The one night of the year we tolerated the cold

We walked up to strangers houses as they awed over our costumes

Always calling us the wrong princess name

Leading to sone quite awkward tears

We came back home way past our bedtimes

Our parents lugging our absurd bags of candy

We dumped them out all over the kitchen table and sorted through them

The chocolate candy was the most coveted

Piled on the left side of the table

(conveniently closer to my chair)

The fruit chews and the bubble gum littered the ground

It’d stay in the cabinet for weeks with the promise of being eaten

Only to be given to my friends in January

It’s crazy how one sense can ignite such a memory

But every time I pass by a fire pit

I feel that happy warmth of Halloween