author’s note:
“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
-- from the comic strip Pogo, by Walt Kelly
THE FRIENDLY MONSTER
Be prepared:
the Friendly Monster
can be
big as an empire,
or the size
of a crocodile.
And if the Friendly Monster seems strong
that might be because
you feel so weak.
So I say again: be prepared--
you may hear a knock on your door
and a thunder-rumble of a voice that says,
“I will help you. I will. Please let me in.”
And you do feel you need
some help, you can’t hardly rise
from bed, you can’t think to question,
so you squeak,
“Oh...okay.”
So now the monster goes about helping you
fend off invaders--real and imagined--then
fixes your pipes, stocks your
store room, impregnates
your daughter, piles a load on
your horse, scalds
your cat, siphons gas
from your car--
and once the monster has done all
that--and more--
you realize he now owns
your house--the monster is
the ghost tenant. And the ghost
pervades every single pore.
But you don’t dare say,
“Would you please leave?”
Because then the monster
will begin to sob,
rubbing its iron fists into
tiny reptilian eyes.
You’ll spend
all day
apologizing. Because once
the tears have dried, you know
there will be wrath.
Even if the Friendly Monster does go...
it will go in a huff.
It’ll poke its fang teeth
through your roof, grab a rafter
in its jaws and crunch--shake
the entire house all the way down
to the foundation. The walls will
fissure like children; the plumbing
will pop and spew poisons,
the electric outlets will shoot
sawtooth fire--
as you tremble--
as the monster stomps boards into splinters
with its spur feet, pounds plaster
into dust--
until your shelter rests in
a pile of gutter rubble.
Then the Friendly Monster
will stalk off, nose in the air,
still acting hurt.
“But at least I got rid
of that monster,” you sigh,
looking for the bright side.
Until--
lo and behold!--
the next day,
the Friendly Monster will
casually wander by
and,
smiling sweetly,
say,
“Okay, I will forgive you--
“--as long as you let me help.”
But now you feel so much stronger--
and that, I suppose, is the true value
of monsters.
© 2006, Michael R. Patton
dream steps blog
shameless self-promotion
artwork for poetry blog
email: michaelpatton@lycos.com
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