Almost Halloween and the wind
rattles the kitchen door as old
Maude Rose sits and visits:
That crooked cedar tree is where
my pony leaned. My mother
drew her water from that well.
A woman stands and smiles and stirs
at the stove, waiting for the man,
waiting for the child she carries.

Maybe they're happy, the woman waiting,
Maude remembering, safe from ghosts
that ride on the wind.
Tonight the woman will bear a daughter
who already knows her name.

Maybe the girl will grow.
Maybe the girl will grow to say
when doors swing and floors shake:
This house is haunted!
Maude Rose is in this house!

Maybe the girl will grow
to throw open the kitchen door
and dance off into town.

Bergine Haakenson is a longtime resident of Eau Claire. Her poems, fiction and essays have been published in literary magazines and anthologies. She has won awards from the Wisconsin Arts Board and Passages North.  

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