Jack-o’-Lantern
Wax melts to my frame,
Contorting my carved shape
As I kneel to the phoenix-colored flame,
Throat charred awake
Peeling the creamed skin off my lips,
Nothing is born but teeth
And a flimsy tongue—
My crown of wind-bitten leaves
I am not who I seem,
For I can be whatever the breeze foresees
In the embers that light my eyes

































![Thespians pose on a staircase at the District IV Thespian Festival. [Front to back] Luca Baker, Maddison Cirino, Tanyiah Ellison, Alex Lewis, Summer Farkas, Jill Marcus, Ella Mathews, Sanjay Sinha, Isabella Jank, Sofia Lee, Boston Littlepage-Santana, Sally Keane, Tyler Biggar, Tanner Johnson, Jasper Hallock-Wishner, Remy de Paris, Alex Jank, Kaelie Dieter, and Daniel Cooper. Photo by Michael McCarthy.](https://spschronicle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image1-900x1200.jpg)







