I kicked off Supporting Friends Friday announcing the publication of my friend Jeremy Miles‘s third book of poetry, Hindsight: Poetry in 2020 (it’s available in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle editions). The publication of a buddy’s book seemed like the perfect time to celebrate and support my friends’ various achievements.
That was in June. Now, just three months later, Jeremy has cranked out another collection, one about which I am very excited: Haunted Verses Haunting: A Halloween Collection (available in paperback and Kindle editions for $15 and $2.99, respectively).
The poems in this volume appear in Jeremy’s first three releases (get them here, here, and here), so they’ve seen publication before, but if you love Halloween—and I definitely do—this collection puts all of his spookiest poems together in one place. If you love Halloween and you’re a cheapskate, you can save some cash and pick up the present volume (though I highly recommend you purchase his entire oeuvre, as I have done—at least in paperback).
Jeremy definitely loves Halloween, too, and often says he wishes every day were Halloween. That might rob the holiday of some of its magic, but I appreciate the sentiment: Halloween these days seems to get short shrift during the holiday season, with the commercialized version of Christmas stretching its imperialistic tentacles deep into October—and even September! But that’s all to say that a guy who loves Halloween that much is going to release some of the spookiest, most spine-tingling poetry you’ll ever read.
Granted, I’m a bit biased. Not only is Jeremy a good friend of mine (and a real-life one at that), I also played some small role in bringing this book to fruition, at least as quickly as it did come out. Jeremy has been working on the collection for awhile now, but with work and school obligations, he’d put the project to the side (I understand: I was putting a good dent into my first omnibus volume of Sunday Doodles, only to have left the manuscript untouched since late March or early April).
I attended a poetry reading a few weeks ago that he gave at a local art shop, and we’d been talking a bit about the Halloween project. I asked him to read some of his Halloween poetry at the upcoming Spooktacular 2021 (30 October 2021, for those interested—more details to come). After the reading, I encouraged him to hammer out the rest of the collection so it could be published in time for the Spooktacular (I can’t remember if I told him he should sell copies there or not, but if I didn’t, I am encouraging him now to do so). It takes a long time for Amazon to deliver author copies of books published through their platform, so getting the book published in early September would be crucial for a delivery date in time for the penultimate day in October.
Well, apparently that did the trick. I didn’t realize how influential my little pep talk (Jeremy characterized it as a “kick to the posterior”), but Jeremy credits it as one of the reasons he finished the volume:
That kind of thing always gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling (probably what a Jack O’Lantern feels when he’s got a warm candle burning inside of him).
Well, the rest is history. Go get yourself a copy of Haunted Verses Haunting: A Halloween Collection—just in time for Halloween!
The Portly Politico 
Thanks Tyler.
As someone who loves both poetry and Halloween, I’ll have a butchers. 🙂
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Dude, you will LOVE Jeremy’s poetry. Very much worth the price of admission.
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It really is a kind and gracious thing, your Supporting Friends Friday.
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Awww, well, thanks! I have very much enjoyed doing it. Hopefully it’s driving some traffic/donations/purchases to my featured friends.
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Talk of Halloween always puts Henry Hall’s Hush (Here Comes The Boogeyman) into my head. Bizarrely, when I was doing the washing up a few minutes ago, I found myself segwaying into Teddy Bear’s Picnic. For those who don’t know me here, I’m a bit of an oddball. Just ask Audre! 🙂
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I’m exactly the wrong person to ask if the question is, “Is 39 an oddball?” Bright, articulate, politically savvy, kind, caring, funny … nope – don’t see ‘oddball’ anywhere in there.
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If only you knew me! 🙂 🙂 🙂
How close is Thanksgiving to Halloween, by the way? Is it a few days after?
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Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November, so it varies, but it’s essentially four weeks after Halloween.
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You can be all of those things and an oddball, too. Oddballs of the world—unite!
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Hahaha, “Teddy Bear’s Picnic”—I remember playing a concert band arrangement of that in high school. I’ve gotsta check out “Henry Hall’s Hush.” Don’t you love those kinds of serendipitous, unusual mind-medleys? I’ve come up with some unusual ones myself, such as my “Total Eclipse of the Heart”/”Jesse’s Girl”/”Mamma Mia”/”Africa” medley.
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I know what you mean about medleys. I’ve often wondered if it’s a bloke thing. Certain songs just mesh so well with others. Ich Will (Rammstein) and Money (Flying Lizards) works better than you might think.
Trust me, when you start singing, ‘the best things in life are free and you can give them to the birds and the bees,’ take money to one side and bark ‘Ich Will!’ It really does work! 🙂
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Hahaha—I can hear it! Brilliant. I love finding those kind of serendipitous, unusual medleys. Such a satisfying feeling.
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Teddy Bear’s picnic must have retired the prize for the most blatant use of a minor key in popular music. What a fun song.
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Agreed! It’s a very bouncy minor key, that’s for sure.
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Ot suree is.
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Except for the opening words – If you go down in the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today
You’d better go in disguise!
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