“There’s no monster
Under your bed.
There’s no such thing,”
My father said.
“Here, I’ll show you.”
Down on the floor,
Lifting the quilt …
An ominous roar!
Piercing red eyes,
Slobbering snout.
Razor sharp claws
Came flashing out.
They grabbed my dad,
Slashing his head
And pulled him down
Under my bed.
Crunch, crunch of bones.
Smack, smack of lips.
Slow ooze of gore
As life’s blood slips.
“Help,” pleaded Dad.
“Yum!” in reply.
Dad should have known.
I never lie.
On this, the very last day of September, it occurs to us that we have forgotten to mention that we had this poem and illustration published in this month's issue of Underneath the Juniper Tree.
We've been enjoying delving into our "dark side" which is what that magazine celebrates. Underneath the Juniper Tree is intended for kids 7 and up. It reminds us of the delicious thrill of scaring ourselves silly the way we once did with ghost stories around the campfire.
The funny thing is that the older we get, the less we want to be scared. We've discovered we can't watch some of those intense serial killer/police drama/everyone getting blown up or beaten to a pulp TV shows or else we'll have nightmares....at our age! Heck, some nights even Peter Mansbridge on The National can set us off.
Grandma Coco's never been accused of having an excessively sunny personality. However, as fun as it is to stretch and reach creatively, this poem and drawing are probably as dark as she can (or wants to) go.
Check out Underneath the Juniper Tree. Tomorrow they'll post the October issue online (it's free!) and October means "Hallowe'en" so it's probably going to be a good one.
Congratulations!! Great poem and illustration :).
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Gee all that is under my bed are dust bunnies (although some are large enough to need names.)
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