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Ghost Story (Poem)
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Bo Burnham's Ghost Story was first published in 2016, on Bo Burnham's personal poetry page on the website HelloPoetry.com

This poem marks a fifth wave of the poets content after his last tour Make Happy and the publishing of his book Egghead: Or you can't survive on ideas alone.

The poem begins with a simplistic quatrain of rhyme scheme ABAB Reminiscent of Dr Suess, until it is deliberately interrupted in the third stanza, being switched out for a less structured ABCB scheme. As with much of Bo Burnham's work the poem is intended as a performance piece, in line with his "gift for verbal rhythm." As described by Forbes.

= Ghost Story = Two young boys in corduroys
 * were playing with a ball.

Two young boys heard one strange noise,
 * coming from the hall.

The boys stood still, well, still until
 * the door swung open wide.

And a ghostly chill and a real ghost, Bill,
 * were heaved the heck inside.

The brave boy stood, as the brave boy would,
 * and said, "Hey, listen Bill!

We're here to hear you, not to fear you.
 * Tell us what you will."

The other boy wheezed and sneezed then seized
 * and vomited on the floor.

He shook his brain. He felt insane.
 * Nothing was real anymore.

"Ghosts are real?! They're fucking real?!?!?!"
 * he cried and shook and feared.

For nature's laws were gone because
 * a ghost had just appeared.

And on that night of fear and fright,
 * the brave boy had his thrills.

And the other one was fucking done
 * and swallowed fifty pills.

Overview
Published in 2016 when Bo Burnham was 26. "Ghost Story" is Burnham's definitive statement about Halloween and the adolescent wonder which once accompanied the holiday, now lost to age and experience. The poem features indecent profanity and adult themes, such as substance abuse and suicide. The poem is reflective of Burnham's satirical style and subversive humour which the poet has described himself, in an interview with Rolling Stone, as: "chaotic and strange and disconnected." It details a paranormal experience in which two boys encounter a ghostly apparition named Bill. Upon seeing this apparition one of the boys experiences an attack which leaves him questioning reality, and eventually committing suicide.

Quatrain 1
The poem opens with a simple ABAB rhyme scheme, reflective of the style and the feeling of youth the poet wishes to capture, the repetition of "Two young boys" helps reaffirm this point. The setting isn't specifically given, however, it is implied they are in a house.

Quatrain 2
The second quatrain focuses on the action in the poem, and the disruption of the simplistic and youthful theme. Still rhyming ABAB, however, the reader pauses at the repetition of "still. well, still until," showing the switch from the calm first quatrain into a more disruptive style interrupted by the action.

Quatrain 3
Focusing more upon one of the boys, this Quatrain introduces the real disruption with the piece. The first line rhymes within itself, making it seem almost as if Bo Burnham wished to make them different lines, which is how they read. This is also the first introduction of speech within the play. From this point the rhyme scheme becomes ABCB.

Quatrain 4
This quatrain continues the disrupted and chaotic pattern of stanza 3. The first line of the poem rhymes three times in "wheezed", "sneezed", and "seized", using assonance to present the panic of the more cowardly boy. This inner rhyme scheme is also used in line 3, rhyming "brain" and "insane," then repeating the previous stanza going ABCB,

Quatrain 5
Continuing the panic and dramatisation of the cowardly boy, this stanza contains the first use of profanity within the poem. The lack of punctuation here makes the reader go in quick succession through the lines, emphasising the sense of panic and rushing in the face of danger. This sudden disruptive nature and break in the style of the poem to emphasise comedy/satire and is common of Bo Burnham's work, as noted by The Guardian:

"Even in the world of comedy, Burnham is exceptionally good at misdirection, which makes anything even slightly predictable feel like a disappointment."

Quatrain 6
The final quatrain seems to be a calm down from the prior, rushed and more action-oriented stanzas as it focuses on the aftermath of the boys' spectral encounter, so the language and sense of panic leaves the reader/listener, lulling them into a sense of false security, and creating a sense of false ease for the two young boys. There is repetition of the previous rhyming form of the first line with itself, adding to our sense of security, so the dark twist at the end is unexpected and thus more comedic.