Poem: "Who Monsters the Monsters?"
This poem came out of the October 5, 2010 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by paradigmshifty and sponsored by janetmiles. Despite the monster angle, the core horror in this one is based on real-world threats. Parents, particularly of young children, may want to brace themselves before reading.
Who Monsters the Monsters?
-- a rondine
Who monsters the monsters once the bed is made?
They are not forgotten with the children grown,
But retire to dimensions of their own.
There the monsters learn anew as they are bade
What frightens the woman who was once a maid
And the man whose days of boyhood all are flown.
Who monsters the monsters?
They taught the cavemen what laws of fear were laid.
Now they teach monsters fresh worries to intone:
Crib deaths, abductions ... and the new parents moan.
Those who frightened children, fear their teachers' aid ...
Who monsters the monsters?