more monsters

After the open mike last night, I was accompanied for part of the walk home by the splendidly appropriate creature in the photo.

It wasn’t easy to find poems to read that were suitable for Hallowe’en as there just aren’t that many “ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties” in my writing. This piece probably comes as close as any to dealing with “things that go bump in the night”:

Thoughts in the early hours

You wrap me in your arms and pull me close;


we lie so snug, how could I wish for more?

I know you’ll keep me safe from nightmare gore,


nocturnal monsters, vampires, ghouls and ghosts;

you’ll hold me while the storm wind gusts and blows

whistling through the gap under the door.


Your arms around me make me feel secure; 

they leave no room for doubt: you love me most. 

But this idyllic scene is spoiled, my dear:

you’re suffocating me, your grip’s so tight.
Not only that, you’re snoring in my ear;

I’m doomed to lie awake the whole damn night!

Before we married, no one told me this


was what I should expect from “wedded bliss.”