At Summer’s Wistful End by K. A. Opperman
Jackanapes Press (September 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
K. A. Opperman is a poet of the Gothic and the grotesque hailing from Southern California. He has been published in a wide array of contemporary horror and dark fantasy magazines, journals, and anthologies, including Weirdbook, Skelos, Ravenwood Quarterly, The Audient Void, The Weird Fiction Review, Spectral Realms, and many others. His debut book-length collection, The Crimson Tome, is available from Hippocampus Press, and a second collection, The Laughter of Ghouls is available from PS Publishing. While not drinking a fine ale or writing morbid poems, he can often be found tending to his pumpkin patch. He has a religiously zealous, year-round devotion to Halloween, and some people have called him “The Pumpkin King.” Since 2020, he has been amassing a collection of conversational verse related to Halloween. This collection has been published over three books on Jackanapes Press, culminating in At Summer’s Wistful End.
At Summer’s Wistful End is meant to be read as a celebration of all things autumnal. There are poems about everything from gathering pumpkins to celebrating pagan feasts, and any subject related to the season of fall is touched upon in this tome. The poems are conversational verse, so very simplistic in their language, accessible in their images, and jovial in tone. There’s nothing here that’s truly horrifying or scary, nor is there meant to be. This is a collection of joy and celebration for the autumnal season, and that exuberance comes forth in the language of the poem. For example, the poem “Pumpkin Spice” reads:
Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove
Are the spices that I love.
Put them in a pumpkin pie–
Or anything else you’d like to try.Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove
Wafting from the kitchen stove,
Steaming from my cup of tea–
O pumpkin spice is the spice for me!
This is exactly the sort of poetry that Opperman has collected in this book. These are poems not of horror, dread, and fear, but of joy and celebration at the season of autumn, its holidays and its traditions.
This collection if further enhanced by numerous photocollage illustrations by artist, editor, and publisher Dan Sauer. These black and white illustrations enhance the celebratory mood of the book. What’s particularly interesting is the way that Sauer worked to match the art to the subjects of the poems, so that they very much work as illustrations of the poems, rather than simply spooky art thrown in for decoration or ornament. For example, his graphic “The Black Cat” features a cute black kitten cuddled on wooden steps augmented with a spiderweb. Clearly, the graphic is tapping into those comfy images of Halloween, which illustrates the accompanying poem, also titled “The Black Cat,” which ends with the joyous stanza:
He’s not bad luck, no goblin or puck,
But an omen and a sign,
That the witch who lives in the woodland gives
You her blessing nine times nine.
This is a fun, cozy poem about a black cat in autumn accompanied by an adorable illustration of a black cat; nothing could be more inviting for readers wanting a cozy read for Halloween.
This is not a horror collection, nor is it pretending to be. Despite early forays into Weird poetry, Opperman has clearly shifted direction to a more comfy and cozy style of verse. This collection would be perfect for any horror readers who want to encourage others to try something spooky, but not scary. This would be a great collection for horror readers to give to kids or teens to encourage them to read the literature of the shadows without scarring them for life. At Summer’s Wistful End is a fun and joyous celebration of all things autumnal, from the crunch of fall leaves to the orange sheen of a ripe pumpkin to wild pagan feasts, anything that humanity finds pleasure and joy in autumn is championed in these poems.
