More Skulls for Day of the Dead on a (Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Thanks to http://www.art-is-fun.com/day-of-the-dead-art.html

Thanks to http://www.ddfolkart.com/

Thanks to http://www.kinderart.com/multic/dayofthedeadskeleton.shtml

Thanks to http://www.vistalatina.com/diadelosmuertos.htm

Charms and pendants can be found here and here.

Because Halloween is Right Around the Corner

Father and Mother

by X.J. Kennedy

My father's name is Frankenstein,
He comes from the Barbados.

He fashioned me from package twine
And instant mashed potatoes.

My mother's name is Draculeen,
She lets a big bat bite her,

And folks who sleep here overnight
Wake up a few quarts lighter.

Father, Mother, and their beady offspring need a home.  Bracelet up for auction on eBay.

A Tale of Six Skulls

Six skulls were sitting around the graveyard one night, playing poker, and bemoaning the things they had neglected to do and be during their skull careers.


"I was never in a production of Hamlet," lamented one.  "I could have been a contender, instead of a dusty old poker playing skull, which is what I am."

"And I should have been a Grateful Dead skull," complained another.  "Talk about the good life...  Get yourself an old VW van, paint it with flowers, and follow the band around the country.  That's what I should have done."

"Not me," said the third.  "I should have gone in for the pirate's life.  Sure, I know all the lyrics to A Pirate's Life for Me, but, at the time,  it never occurred to me that I would eventually become a symbol for all things pirate.  I wasted the best years of my death!"

"You think you wasted your death?!" retorted the fourth.  "I should have been a biker tattoo for some guy on a big ol' Harley.  I could have hung out on his meaty forearm, defying death...even though I'm like, well... dead."

"Aw, you're all full of dust," remarked the fifth.  "If I had it to do all over again, I'd get on the Día de los Muertos bandwagon.  Be one of those skulls everyone wants  Hang out with all the other skulls.  Everyone brings your flowers and food and presents.

The sixth skull looked at the others through hollow eyes, and then weighed in. "The ultimate," the sixth skull stated, "would be to be the symbol on a poison bottle.  Think about it.  Universally understood, striking fear into the hearts of men everywhere.  A cameo part in It's a Wonderful Life.  Death doesn't get any better than that, my friends."

The skulls sighed, as one, each sure of wasting early years of skullishness.  The first skull absent-minded set down the poker cards and rubbed a nearby tombstone.  Suddenly, in a  flash of light, the Fair Godmother of Skulls appeared.  "I am your Fairy Godmother," she said, "And I am here to grant you one wish."

The skulls started to clamor:

"Keep on truckin'"

"Feliz Dia de los Muertos!"

" Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door!"

"Live to ride; ride to live!"

"We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.  Drink up me 'earties, yo ho!"

"Alas, poor Yorick!"

"Do not induce vomiting!"

"Hold it right there," said the Fairy Godmother.  I didn't mean you each get a wish.  You get one wish for all of you."

The skulls started to confer, then argue, then argue heatedly.  It was only a matter of time before they began to bang heads.  The Fairy Godmother, having seen this behavior before, stepped between them, stopping them instantly.

"Surely there's something all of you wanted to do once upon a time."

They stopped, silenced by her words.  They thought and thought and thought.  But they'd been sitting around the graveyard so long, playing poker and acting tough, that they could no longer remember what they'd missed.  And so their Fairy Godmother decided for them.

"Sure, you could have been tattoos, or symbols... or even pieces of a shrine.  But, really, all that is highly overrated.  When's the last time you had a night out?"

The skulls looked puzzled.

"You know," she said. "Dressing up?  A nice dinner, a show, cocktails, dancing?  What do you say?"

It sounded like the most fun any of the skulls had ever had.  "Then that shall be your wish!" said the Fairy Godmother.  "Go polish your parietal plates and get out your BrightandShinyThings.  You're going out for a night on the town."

And so they found their pearls and their crystals and they sparkled and their glitter.  The skulls got all dolled up and, for one perfect night, they partied like skulls they'd only watched in old films.

And every night after that, when they played Texas Hold 'Em, they remembered that lovely night.  And then they went back to arguing about poison and Harleys and head banging.

And they all died happily ever after.

These very special skull earrings, with all six of the graveyard skulls, is my offering in this month's EHAG Emporium.  The Eclectic Halloween Artists Group (EHAG) hosts an Emporium on the last day of each month, and various had crafted items are offered by its artist members.  Stop by by for a real treat.

The earrings can be purchased here.

Numbskullery

If others say you are hard-headed,
That you bury your head in the sand,
That you just aspired to be head of your class,
Salute them with your best head-stand.

If they say you're the head cheese or honcho,
Or like a deer in the headlamps,
That you're bound to turn up in the headlines,
Just say that they give you brain cramps.

Rejoice, do a cheer with the cheese-heads,
Drive a van like the good Dead Heads do,
For it's better than being a footnote.
Or, worse yet, the end of the queue.

Skulls for all occasions.

The Cranium, the Cranium

The cranium, the cranium,



It's where you keep your brainium.



So if you must explainium



Repeat this fine refrainium.



Only one of these OOAK bracelets remains (ium).

Day After Halloween

by Shel Silverstein





Skeletons, spirits and haunts,
Skeletons, spirits and haunts.
It's a Halloween sale:
A nickel a pail
For skeletons, spirits and haunts.






Skeletons, spirits and haunts,
More than most anyone wants.
Will you pay for a shock,
'Cause we're quite overstocked
On skeletons, spirits and haunts.





Skeletons, spirits, and haunts here.

[hist whist]

[hist whist]

by E. E. Cummings

hist      whist

little ghostthings

tip-toe

twinkle-toe

 

little twitchy

witches and tingling

goblins

hob-a-nob     hob-a-nob

 

little hoppy happy

toad in tweeds

tweeds

little itchy mousies

with scuttling

eyes    rustle and run     and

hidehidehide

whisk

 

whisk     look out for the old woman

with the wart on her nose

what she’ll do to yer

nobody knows

 

for she knows the devil     ooch

the devil     ouch

the devil

ach     the great

 

green

dancing

devil

devil

 

devil

devil

        wheeEEE

 

[hist whist here]

Halloween: The Black and White Film Classic

Long before the Jasons and Halloween 3s, there were the classic horror films: Frankenstein, Dracula, The Werewolf, The Mummy... And all those were in glorious Black and White.

The characters on this bracelet come from a lesser-known Black and White classic horror film: Dance Hall of the Darned.  Directed by G. Goyle, the film followed the lives of a cast of bats, skeletons, black cats, ghosts, spiders, scarecrows, jack o' lanterns, witches, and a lone owl, all of whom were the last chosen as partners during dancing class. 



After spending too much time in their wooden chairs, feeling like wallflowers, they rose up to create their own dance steps: the Batusi, the Spider Shake, Skeleton Salsa, the Black Cat Bump, the Witchy Watusi, the Jack o' Lantern Jerk, and an Owl-ish version of YMCA.  

 

They took their dance act on the road, appearing after hours at such venues as The Crypt, Gus' Graveyard, and The Vindow Viper Room.

It became the feel-good B&W Halloween film of all time, thus losing any large following it might built over time.

Bid now and you'll get:

An entire dance troupe of skeletons, skulls, and bones



the Ghostly Trio,   



Watch-My-Feet Spider



The Batty Three



Wilhemina Witch and her Famous Hat Dance

Black Cat Carioca




 and more... all in glorious black and white.

Rhumba with the undead, Twist with the Twisted, Dance with the Darned...

Learn their dance steps and more right here...