In southwestern Missouri near the Oklahoma border, a story is told about the “spooklight” or “ghost light,” a mysterious ball of light seen at night. It’s supposedly best seen from just inside the Oklahoma state line, facing west. Reports of the light began in the 19th century, and some say it’s associated with the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. Similar lights have been reported in Texas, Michigan, Thailand, and Norway. All the reports fall into the general category of “will-o’-the-wisps,” often associated with marshes and swamps.
The will-o’-the-wisp is just one of the folk tales poet Paul Brookes puts to work in As FolkTaleTeller, his new poetry collection, a chapbook of 33 poems, each about a different folk tale or character. The folk tales are local to where Brookes lives in England. But most of them of them are familiar enough under other names to be close to universal, like that ghost light or will-o’-the-wisp.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
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