all of them,
all the saints, 

they can all come out 
on the 1st of november 

they come dressed up as each other

st. joseph as st. lucy laughing with 
two grapes on a plate as eyes,

st. clare as st. francis,
with a fake parrot glued 
to her shoulder

st. francis as st. denis,
holding a papier-mâché severed head
full of cherry throat lozenges 

st. catherine as the other 
st. catherine, everyone pretends that they
can tell them apart but they're so similar 
that their costumes don't make
much of a difference

the end of the day 
is the best part

all the saints go house
to house martyring themselves,
even the ones that didn't have
a chance to be martyred in their
real lives 

don't worry,
it's not morbid,

they go up in a poof 
of smoke as they do,

the smoke smells like
cotton candy & comes in
all sorts of colors

i was excited when the door bell rang,
outside, standing st. leo,
my brother's favorite saint

i wanted to invite him in,
but i knew what he was here for

he put a water gun to his 
forehead & pulled the trigger

& BAM!