Based on a prompt: ‘write your worst fear as if it were a living monster’. This doesn’t quite do the job—but some things are hard to translate.

My monster is a sneaky bastard—
invisible, silent…

waiting.

Always.

He pretends to disappear,
but really he is a master
of camouflage.

Always waiting.

He feeds on the ticks
of the silent metronome
marking the interludes,

without letting on
that he likes to play
with his food.

Meanwhile waiting.

On an unremarkable afternoon
I go about my business,
doing unremarkable things.

Someone on television
is talking about
an unremarkable subject.

(Ironically, they have a lot to say about it.)

The monster vomits///////PITCHBLACKdenseFORMLESSengulfingENDLESS—

I scream.

The monster disappears.
He was never there.

But he’s waiting.

(27 October 2021)

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Wishes sometimes have consequences is available to order from your favorite local bookstore.

IndieBound search: https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=wishes+sometimes+have+consequences

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Paperback: https://smile.amazon.com/Wishes-Sometimes-Consequences-Kevin-OConner/dp/0998878162/

Information about my other books can be found here.