A Christmas Carol's other ghosts, stave 1

unseen phantoms

Hello, Poetry Friend

You already know I love writing poems about books. To celebrate the 1st birthday of my illustrated and annotated edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, I am writing poems about the other ghosts in the story — not about Marley and the Big Three we all know and love, but about the others we hurry past.

This week I’m writing about the other ghosts Scrooge sees as Marley departs through the window, joining in their “mournful dirge.” Scrooge approaches and looks out. Already he has begun to see the world with new eyes.

“The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (these might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives.”

-Stave 1, “Marley’s Ghost”

How does one see the unseen? Perhaps we must be more like Scrooge — not like the redeemed man at the end of the story. Like Scrooge at his worst. That’s when he sees what walks among us and has always walked among us.

How to see the Invisible World

1. Get lost playing hide-and-seek and forget your way out.
2. Count, don't imagine.
3. Call Christmas a Humbug.
4. Turn away the woman with an infant, the portly gentlemen callers.
5. Skimp on coal and holidays.
6. Decline visitors and their invitations, especially from family.
7. Invest in darkness.
8. Never raise your eyes to the blessed Star.
9. Throw things at carolers.
10. Make frost itself feel warm and welcoming.
11. Notice nothing more horrible than a knocker.
12. Heed not the communications of disused bells.
13. Crack bad jokes to ghosts.
14. Ignore the one who sat, invisible, at your side many and many a day.

–Megan Willome

Poetry Journal

• What ghost story do you enjoy during the holidays? What poem could you write about it?

• This is a how-to poem. It can be arranged as a set of instructions or even as a recipe. What form does your ghost poem need? Does your ghost, perhaps, need advice?

• My poem is drawn from details scattered throughout this first chapter, Stave 1. Other details led me to write a poem in the book titled “Scrooge’s Niece Sings a Rondeau.” What details in A Christmas Carol can you use to help you write a better poem?

• Write your own ghost poem from a story. If you like, email me what you write.

Happy poeming!

Megan