Tonight beasts broke loose
and rose up roaring,
their bright comet backs
bleeding light from spectating stars
trembling between each other,
thankful for the distance.
Close at hand we drew curtains,
played peekaboo
with things we’d thought buried.
Only real if we see them.
Carol J Forrester 
Carol, I am simply stunned by the gorgeousness and dark shadow of this line:
“we drew curtains,
played peekaboo
with things we’d thought buried.”
Oh, MY.
Thank you! So glad this poems has gone down so well.
I wonder if it’s not better to play with the monsters… they seems less frightening when peekabooing with them
If we do not fear them, are they even monsters?
Monsters come in many guises. As a child there was always one in my closet. Covers over my head always worked for me.
Haha, whatever works best for you.
Pretending they’ve been buried means they flame-torch your innards. Let them burn brightly until they fizzle and drop into dust.
I really like these lines:
“rose up roaring,
their bright comet backs
bleeding light from spectating stars”
Thank you, they’re my favourite lines in the poems as well.
I love ‘bleeding light from spectating stars.’ Beautiful!
Thank you Linda.
Uh oh. Things that go bump in the night! Love it!
Thanks Beverly, glad you enjoyed it.
I like the last line about the test of reality.
Thank you Frank.
Ah yes i luv the image of the trembling stars, makes me think twice about all that twinkling.
Happy Monday
Much✏love
Thank you Gillena. I’ll admit I was quite proud of that image in the poem.
I guess, if you can’t see the beasts it gives the illusion they aren’t there.
But you can still hear their breathing.
I really liked the closing lines, especially the drawing curtains and peekaboo.
Thank you.
I love the assonance in the opening lines, Carol, to convey awe and fear. The lines that stand out for me are:
‘their bright comet backs
bleeding light from spectating stars’,
and the drawing of the curtains is like the curtains coming down at the end of a play. I’m curious about the ‘things we’d thought buried’.
Shadows always reveal our skeletons.
This is lovely. It thrust me into a child waking from a nightmare, then to a mother sitting with her own nightmare-woken child, the “yes and” of playing peek-a-boo with what emerges and can never be buried. Wise and powerful words, indeed.
Thank you Victoria.
too particularly liked these lines:
and rose up roaring,
their bright comet backs
bleeding light from spectating stars
trembling between each other,
thankful for the distance.
I also appreciated the contrast between the cosmic and domestic, which is actually about their similarity in playing peek-a-boo – led me to many thoughts about advancing and retreating; not to mention how we all play with denial.
Thank you Christine. Those are my favourite lines as well, I love the image of light playing across the night.
It’s lovely to see a reader taking so much from the poem.
Nice!
Thank you.