Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems by LindaAnn LoSchiavo
Wild Ink Publishing LLC (October 1, 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
LindaAnn LoSchiavo is a dramatist, writer, and poet. A native New Yorker, LoSchiavo has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Rhysling Award, Best of the Net, the IPPY Award, CLMP’s Firecracker Award, Balcones Poetry Prize, and Dwarf Stars. She is a member of Science Fiction Poetry Assoc., The British Fantasy Society, and The Dramatists Guild. Her newest collection is Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems.
Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poem features twenty-six horror poems, most of which are written in LoSchiavo’s trademark blank verse style. The poems are divided into six sections, each focusing on a unique trope regarding Hallowe’en, like “Graveyard” or “Haunting.” The poems in each section, though not directly connected to each other, are certainly connected to the sectional trope, and this organizational style almost reads like half a dozen intimate rooms in an ancient gothic manor, where readers are given a few minutes to peruse the room and meet the ghosts who haunt it before moving on to the next room. As such, the collection never gets tiresome or weary, as readers are only given so many poems in each section, so this is a well-paced collection, as well.
For the most part, the poems are lyrical descriptions or narratives about their subjects. This is typical fare for LoSchiavo, so readers familiar with her previous work will not be surprised nor disappointed. However, scattered throughout the book, LoSchiavo branches away from her favored blank verse, and offers up a few hybrid pieces. Poems like “Erasure at Nightfall” and the “Our Lady of the Holiest Death” series read almost like short stories or prose poems, but they are decorated with the occasional flutter of delineated poetry lines. The hybridity of these pieces works with their subjects, as ambiguity and unknown are a part of the horror; furthermore, for readers who are prone to overemphasize metrical feet when reading, these poems will provide a fresh break from the thick iambic pentameter throughout the rest of the collection.
Overall, Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems is a short, fun collection of Hallowe’en based poems. These poems are cleverly illustrated, so the book is pretty hefty despite only having a few dozen poems. The poems themselves are the typical fare that one would expect from LoSchiavo — elegant descriptions of terrifying events or clever spooky narratives in a rolling iambic pentameter — only the author occasionally throws in a hybrid prose piece to make sure readers are on their toes. This is a solid collection, and it’s coming out early enough in October to be ready in time for Hallowe’en, so readers or horror poetry can be ready and waiting to have this clever book on their shelves.
